


My Voice

by MaryShimy



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-06-08 19:19:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 66,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15250239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryShimy/pseuds/MaryShimy
Summary: After being in a somewhat healthy three-year-long relationship, Ladybug and Chat Noir decide to take it to the next level, only for their relationship to crumble at their feet. A rough breakup and a lot of food later and Marinette discover that she's pregnant.And she scared away the father.





	1. The closer to the sky you get, the worse the fall is.

**Author's Note:**

> Well. I did promise the real summary a long time ago. So, I'll give in.  
> If at any point during the story you find any grammar error feel free to point them out. I did the first two by myself and I'm not perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit I: I edited this and expanded the sex scene.
> 
> Edit II: Added the "Alya and Nino know who they really are" plot point, and fixed a few minor things.

“What do you reckon would happen if we just couldn’t . . . fix. . . the. . . Eiffel tower?”

“The question is, kitty, why do they all insist on destroying this place?”

Ladybug and Chat Noir were sitting atop the Eiffel Tower, staring down at the city they help protect. It was their weekly patrol, and both were just not in the mood to run around Paris in the odds that someone somewhere was doing something bad. Thus, they decided to just sit back on one of the highest spots in Paris and hope that either their high advantage with their expanded view or the loud noise of the Paris Police automobiles would alert them of any inconvenience.

“Maybe . . . maybe because they consider it a symbol of peace and unity. If they destroy our symbol of peace, they can. . . easily create . . .”

“Havoc.”

“Pawsitive, Bugaboo.”

“We’re having a serious talk, kitty. Please, no puns.” Ladybug said, settling back against his chest, where she was sitting between his legs, his arms wrapped tightly around her, with his chin on her shoulder.

It’s been two years since both Chat and Lady graduated high school, that was a long and ridiculous conversation they had, where they joked about going to their graduations in costume just to freak and confuse everyone, and they were both nearly convinced to do it, until they remember that in graduations they get called by names. It’s been two years since they graduated, but it’s been three years since Adrien sadly told Marinette that he was in love with another mysterious girl, and Ladybug finally decided to give Chat a chance. Three happy years of a comrade, partnership, playful fights, and so many midnight kisses. Ladybug almost regretted brushing him off for an entire year.

“I don’t want to be sad or melancholic today, Bugaboo. It’s almost Christmas. Be joyous and bring joy to the world.”

“Puns are only slightly joyous... more groan-worthy than laughter worthy if I’m honest... And I love and enjoy our serious talks kitty, they remind me there’s a real man behind that mask and not just a nerd who probably owns a million books on puns.”

There was a slight snicker from Chat, “If puns make you groan than you’re only giving me more incentive to keep making puns.”

Ladybug sighed, “A horny man, but a man nonetheless.”

“I prefer Chat in heat.” Ladybug groaned, shaking her head for walking into that one. Chat laughed.

It’s been six years of crime fighting together, and while they enjoyed the regular crimes, stopping burglars and saving children, the whole Hawk Moth dilemma was getting tiring. And it seemed like it was getting tiring for Hawk Moth too because every next Akuma came angrier and more dangerous than the one before.

Chat was peppering Ladybug with soft, lazy kisses on any spot of skin he could find around her neck and face -mostly her cheeks, he loved her cheeks-, “Calm yourself kitty. I see red and blue.”

Chat groaned, looking down to see a police car rushing in their direction, “We’ve been waiting for two hours for something to happen, and now! Now they want to fuck around?”

Ladybug giggled, getting up and ready to make a long jump down, “You really are in heat. I’ll go ahead and warn them that you could bite or scratch at any moment.”

Chat murmured something she couldn’t understand as he just sat there, trying to calm himself down.

Down below a rather young police officer was rushing towards where Ladybug landed, yelling quickly about an Akuma that was hurting and possibly killing citizens many blocks down south.

“-THERE WERE ROPES AND PEOPLE HANGING, AND THERE WAS SO MUCH BLOOD. IT LOOKS LIKE SHE’S WIPING THEM OR HANGING THEM. PEOPLE ARE DYING LADYBUG, PEOP-“

“Alright, calm down. We’ll go over there immediately and get out the crew to take care of this. . . dominatrix? Anyway, tell your boys to block off the perimeter. Let’s keep the casualties as low as possible.” Ladybug turned around, away from the rookie policeman and looked up, “CHAT, SWEETHEART. THERE’S BLOOD.”

“ON MY WAY.”

On their way to the scene of the ongoing crime, Chat took his pre-fight job of contacting the crew that had become less and less optional the more the years went on until they finally became a permanent part of the group. Chat and Lady took charge of patrol on Mondays and Saturdays, while Carapace and Rena took Tuesdays and Thursdays, Bee taking the remaining three. 

Ladybug knew the real reason why Carapace and Rena patrolled together, Chat believed they met as heroes and started dating, just like her and Chat, and Bee thought they were still just flirting with one another. Ladybug always wondered if she should do like she did with Nino and Alya and take the identity secret out of the relationship, but then she would hear the Akuma’s ask for hers and Chat’s miraculous and she would remember that the stakes were higher for them too. 

When they got to the scene they found that the bee, the turtle, and the fox arrived at the scene before they did.

“Nice of you guys to stop making out and join us.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes at Rena/Alya, almost wanting to playfully smack her for her teasing. “The Eiffel tower is far away from here.”

“Did you two even patrol the city tonight? Or did you park at the tower and make out for these past two and a half hours?” Bee sassed at them.

“Bumblebee,” Bee sneered at the nickname Chat had given her, “You didn’t even show for your patrol last week. You have no right to judge right now.”

“You two may be seniors in this business, and we respect that. But lately, it seems like you’re slacking off.”

Chat and Lady couldn’t deny that Carapace was right, they did walk with an air of seniority and they had been slacking off lately.

It’s just that since Marinette started college, and Adrien began a much more professional modeling career that included catwalks and Fashion Week, they’ve had less free time to sneak off into costume and spend time with their dear one, so now every time patrol came, it was, per se, date time.

“We apologize.” The trio nodded, a bit proud that they easily got Chat and Lady to admit they were wrong.

“Alright, then bros,”

Bee sneered again at Carapace’s general term for the crew, “There are more girls than boys-“

“And I don’t care, bro. Lady, Chat, we evacuated all the remaining civilians while we waited. There are a few that- . . . There are others that may need intensive care, we hid them in the café’s bathroom, and we can at least tell you that her theme appears to be ropes, but we lack intention or Akuma object, so tha- FUCK!”

The four of them watched as Carapace was dragged off by a rope on his ankle towards the shadows, all too baffled and confused, before snapping out of the trance and jumping into action.

“That’s what he gets for calling us 'bro'.”

Chat laughed, jumping into a fun fight where he knew most of it would just be them stopping Bee from directing most of her punches at Carapace.

...

...

...

Or at least that was what he had hoped.

Instead, he found himself minutes later with Carapace and Bee hanging with a rope around their necks as they struggled to breathe while Ladybug and Rena Rouge fought their asses off to save their friends and loved ones.

He could tell it was getting strenuous for them. He could tell Ladybug and Rena were getting desperate. But he could tell less and less by the minute as his senses began to fail.

All he could see was a fading light, and all he could hear was a distant whistle when he felt the impact of his body hitting the ground.

“-at?”

It felt like he was desperately swimming up to the surface.

“at?”

He could barely see shapes, and everything sounded muffled.

“AT?!”

He could feel his lungs desperately sucking air as the blood rushed back to his head, and suddenly, in a second, it felt like someone turned up the volume really high and really fast.

“CHAT? CHAT PLEASE TALK TO ME, SAY ANYTHING!”

 

He gulped, and whispered, his voice clearly broken, “I told you to only cry at my funeral.”

“You son of a-“

Chat gave a soft laugh, as much as his vocal cords could handle now and tried to lift his arm to wipe away her tears, only to realize the blood had yet to make it there, “You are so beautifully sentimental.”

“Sentimental? Chat you weren’t breathing. None of you were!”

“So dramatic.”

“UGH!” She wanted to be angry, and she was, but relief and gratefulness covered the emotion like a thick blanket as she kissed Chat, hoping her kiss alone could heal everything this Akuma did to him.

“Do I also get a kiss?”

“Shut up Bumble Bee.”

Ladybug and Rena left for a few minutes, separately, to replenish their kwamis, before returning to the scene of the crime, joining the trio, along with many ambulances, as the paramedics did their best to double check that their heroes were okay, even with the obstacles of the suit.

“You truly are a cat. How many lives you got left?” Carapace said, as the paramedic softly pressed around his neck to make sure everything was how it was supposed to be. He ignored her as she shushed him, “I’ve seen you get your tail stuck in the sewers far too many tim- “. He cut as he began to choke while the paramedic murmured ‘I told you to shh”.

Ladybug laughed, walking towards Chat, as she noticed he legit seemed to be trying to do the math. “Kitty, with as many years as we’ve been doing this, you have run out of lives at least twice.”

“Then-“ Chat stopped as another fit of coughs surprised him, his voice sounding more hoarse by the minutes as his throat began to swell from the bruising, “T-then . . . why -coughs- why the- the dramatics?”

She finally stood in front of him, as the paramedic walked away to check on Bee, her voice lowering to a whisper as her face and her tone got serious, “Because joking aside, this one was too close for comfort.”

Chat looked up to see her staring at him, with hidden anger, maybe not at him, but it was there, and it was intimidating him enough to sober up to reality.  
He almost died.

He felt the air leave his lungs and reality slip from his fingertips as he almost died. And no matter how much he tried to distract his Lady from the cold truth, it was the truth. And she loved him, so, she had all the reasons for the dramatics.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, this no longer being a playful conversation the others could chip in at any time if they wanted, this now being a conversation between two people who were getting pretty tired of having nightmares of them not being so lucky anymore and these close calls no longer being close calls.

“Is not your fault, you did all you could. . . And it’s not her fault either, she didn’t know what she was doing.” Ladybug sighed as Chat shifted back on the edge of the ambulance and spread his legs, so she could sit in his embrace, “He . . . When is this gonna end?”

Chat placed his chin on her shoulder, careful this time to not hurt himself, as he hugged her tight, “If I could rid you of all your worries. . .”

Lady smiled, pulling back to kiss him on the cheek, “You’d be a God. And I don’t think I could date a God. So, we’d have to break up.”

“What if I w- . . .” He took a deep breath, trying not to cough and hurt his throat again, “I-if I was. . . the g-god of c-cats?”

“. . . Yeah, that’s lame enough for me.”

“Ok-k. I love you butt-t-t . . . Y-you’re too sp-special to. . . settle for lame.”

“I know I said lame, but if you’re a god, then you’re already on another level, so high above all these measly mortal men, so it’s not settling.”

He smiled, kissing her, loving how she seemed to always find some way to give him both a compliment and an insult, both at once. Making him feel special, but not so much that it would make him a douche, and when you model for a living and have people telling you that you’re an Adonis on a daily basis, you need someone to hold you back, so you don’t become a douche.

“Ok, Romeo, Juliet, we are leaving!”

Lady and Chat looked up to see the trio walking off as the newscasters seemed to finally make their way into the scene.

“Be careful.”

“You’re not my mom, mom!” Ladybug laughed at Bee’s comment before they saw her fly off, closely followed by Carapace, who seemed slightly slower than usual, and Rena, who muttered something to Carapace, most likely telling him to stay close to Bee, just in case the physical exertion was too much for her. so they could be there for her. But not so close that she would feel chaperoned, or like they were trying to follow her home.

They’d done it before, and they’ve done it for each other. Sometimes it takes too long to recover from a fight, and it’s good to have a friend at least 80% of the way home.

As the silence faded away into the chaos of noisy people, paparazzi’s and news channels, she felt Chat place soft kisses on the nook of her neck, “Let’s go back to the tower, far away from the noise and close enough to your home, my beautiful moon.”

Ladybug looked at him, feeling his arms hug her tightly, afraid to let her go, as she understood what meant. He didn’t want to be alone, not now, not so close after having almost died. She knew his home life had never been that good and that he spends most meals talking to himself or his father’s assistant, so she knew no one would be home to hug him away from all the nightmares.

Ladybug didn’t want to leave him alone either, in fact, she didn’t want to leave him ever. She wanted to always stay with him, holding him in her arms, keeping each other safe. “Listen, my sun. . . how about somewhere a little more private?”

“Bugaboo . . . we have dry-humped on that damn tower, and no one has been none-the-wiser.”

“Well. . .” Ladybug looked down, as her cheeks slowly began to match her costume, “What I want to do requires a certain level of nudity I’m not really on board to share with all of Paris.”

Chat stared at her, looking her over, trying to decide if she was messing with him, or maybe if he misunderstood, “You mean like-“

“I mean like, Chat out of the bag, like.”

Chat’s eyes widened as he whispered, “Chat out of the bag.”

Ladybug nodded, whispering back slightly seductive, “Chat out of the bag.”

“. . . I like Chat out of the bag. Yes. . . where?”

Ladybug paused, looking behind him, and grabbing some bandages, before dragging him away, “I . . . you trust me?”

“With my life and more.”

She nodded and waited until they were out of everyone’s sight before handing him the bandages.

“. . . So . . . not all nude?” Chat clearly sounded irritated at the offending visual impairment she was offering.

“Hawk Moth is still out there. And clearly, he doesn’t care about whether we die or not, as long as he gets our miraculous.”

Chat sighed, wanting more than anything to spend at least one night with his lady, to enjoy the afterglow of his bugaboo, even if that meant wearing a blindfold. He kissed her before grabbing the bandages and making a makeshift blindfold that was slightly sticky to his face.

“My hair is going to stick to my face for a long while after I take these off.”

“Now you will understand what it feels like to wear lipstick.”

Chat softly laughed, “You’ve never worn lipstick for me.”

“Because it is unnecessary for the hero of Paris to take two minutes off her Paris saving time to put on lipstick.”

Chat shrugged, “We’re not saving Paris right now.”

There was a pause in the darkness, “I don’t have any on me right now. Before patrol I fill my bag with goodies, just in case, to replenish my kwami.”

Chat nodded, “Makeup is overrated anyway.” Chat felt the pull of her hand as she began to lead him somewhere.

Ladybug looked back to the boy, the man, who would literally blindly follow her anyway, wondering how she got so lucky, “Don’t you wear makeup?”

“Yes. Which is why I say it. Is. Over. Rated.”

“Doesn’t patrol and being the hero of Paris reward you with bad sleeping schedules and a lot of baggy eyes?”

“Yes. I may need it sometimes, it doesn’t mean I have to be thankful for it. It sucks, and it makes my face feel dirty.”

Chat felt the pull stop and she suddenly pressed against him, whispering against his lips, “Do they airbrush those abs on, or has saving Paris given you the advantage on all the other models?”

Chat smirked, “Oh my dear Bugaboo, in my kind of modeling, abdominal muscles are a disadvantage. They prefer us flat and skinny.”

Even without seeing her he could tell she didn’t like what she heard, “You mean the corpse models?”

“Fashion designers prefer us like that.”

She began to lead him away again, murmuring under her breath, “Not all of us.”

He felt her pull upwards, implying that they needed to climb to get out of where they were. He followed suit.

He knew she was studying to be a fashion designer, just how she knew he was a model. But in Paris, France, the capital of fashion . . . that could be anyone. But it was nice to know each other’s aspirations . . . or one of theirs. Chat had yet to decide what to do with his life after saving Paris became a thing of the past and once he was too old to model or was finally given the freedom to choose what he wanted to do.

Ladybug looked around as she snuck both her and Chat into Alya’s apartment. She knew Alya was going to spend these next few days back home with her family to celebrate Christmas, and that her apartment would be empty. Ladybug couldn’t bring Chat to her studio apartment for fear he may know her in some way and recognize her apartment.

Chat heard the window closing, “Are you also going to be blindfolded?”

“Kitty, we can’t figure out who the other is simply because half of our face is covered in a magic mask. Reason says that it should be harder for me to recognize you if I can’t even see your eyes.”

“But what if you can? It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Kitty,” He could hear her very close now, softly whispering as she cupped his cheek. “What good will it do for us if neither can see what’s going on? Unless you are about to tell me that you’ve gotten busy before with someone else very young, neither of us know what we’re doing. At least one of us should not be blindfolded.”

Chat was about to reply, to defend his love for Ladybug and knock down the implication that he may have slept with some other girl too young or while dating her when he felt her lips on his jaw.

“Spots off.” She whispered, almost inaudible.

Even through the bandages, he could see the bright pink light as whoever was under the mask de-transformed. “Take it off kitty. I can’t see those abs if you don’t take the leather off.”

“Oh, how badly do I wish I had been wearing a skin-tight leather suit when I transformed.” As he said it he de-transformed.

“Ooh, button down and trousers, were you going on a date before our patrol date?” He knew she was joking. He also knew she didn’t care for a response as she began to unbutton his shirt. He didn’t know why he replied and almost killed the mood.

“Nah, my date didn’t show up. He was too busy caring for a company to be a father.”

He felt her fingers go rigid just as they had reached his belt. She sighed.

He sighed, “No. I’m not gonna let my shitty father takes this from me. I can’t help my sarcastic comments. Ignore I said that.”

She stayed silent for a bit, and Chat felt around, unsure she was even there for a moment. He grabbed at her and rested his hands on her hips, feeling jeans and a cardigan. “Bug. Ignore it. I’m working on it as you said. Don’t worry about it now.” He whispered, hoping that she understood he wasn’t lying. He was working on it, and he had been trying to get one dinner with his father to-to . . . just talk when he didn’t show up.

“You deserve better.”

Chat smiled at her sweet whispering voice, leaning forward until their foreheads touched. “So do you.”

She shook her head, almost knocking him off, “No. You are exactly what I need.”

Chat felt even his heart smile as he leaned forward and put his dumb mouth to better use. Definitely better use than saying something else about his father, ending up, not killing, murdering the mood.

Chat felt his Lady guide him to what he could only guess was a bed, dropping his unbuttoned shirt and feeling for the buttons on her cardigan.

“Buttonless. Everything I’m wearing is buttonless.” She said mid-kisses.

His eyebrows perk as he reached down, confused as to how her jeans could be buttonless before realizing it was a jean skirt with a zipper. “What about the bra?”

“I’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” He heard the teasing tone in her voice at the age-old joke about men’s ineptitude for undoing bras. But he worked at fashion, and he wasn't going down without a fight, “I meant, front or back. I know the brooch is different depending on where it is.”

She paused, and he felt his trousers sag at his hip, clearly having been undone. “. . . Sports bra. My good bras are in the washer.”

Chat smiled, reaching to pull up her top and hoping to be able to get everything else on the way, “Ah, so everything is buttonless.”

Lady raised her arms as he pulled off her cardigan, tank top and sports bra all at once, “I wasn’t lying.”

Chat threw the garments somewhere he didn’t know, before placing his hands back at her hips. He felt her shivers, both realizing this was their first times also touching each other, skin to skin.

“Your hands are a bit cold.”

He leaned forward, lips brushing together as he whispered, “Forgive me, all my blood is somewhere else at the moment.”

He kissed her through her laughter at the dumb joke, smiling himself, while reaching for her zipper. He felt her grab at his trousers, pushing them down to pool at his feet. He pushed her forward, hoping to walk away from them when he felt her fall backward. She giggled again at his confused face, “I stopped because we reached the bed kitty.”

“Oh.” He looked down, following her voice, before kicking off his trousers and searching, reaching for her skirt, pulling it off and throwing it . . . somewhere. He grabbed for her again only to realize she moved.

“Crawl to me, kitty.” He scoffed, smiling.

“I can’t say puns, but you can make jokes like that?”

“How is that a joke? Are you going to walk on the bed to get to me?”

Chat bit his lip. She was right. He had to crawl. It was just a coincidence that his nickname had been 'kitty'.

Climbing on the bed, he followed her voice, knowing when to stop by feeling her warmth in an otherwise cold room. Leaning down to kiss her, he felt her legs wrap around him, pulling him closer until he was basically laying on top of her. He paused, “. . . Where’s your underwear?”

“Where yours should be.”

“. . .” He shook his head, “Damn, you’re smooth.”

“One of us should be.”

He knelt up to take off his underwear, “Stop hating on my puns.” He threw the garment away, intending to get back to her lips when he felt her soft and slightly cold hand on his pelvis.

“Someone’s a little shy.”

“Someone’s a lot cold.” He knew he said it a bit aggressively.

She giggled though, before placing a soft kiss where her hand had been. “Want me to help?” She whispered.

He couldn’t see, and oh, how hated that! He imagined her face, close to his member, looking up while smiling suggestively and teasingly as she does sometimes. It wasn’t hard to imagine. He had dreamt many scenes like this many times. And it was probably obvious how desperate he was to make that dream a reality as he nodded vigorously for her to do whatever she was going to do to help.

She was right. One of them had to be smooth, and at this point, he didn’t care if it wasn’t him. Somehow it was much sexier for it to be her.

He felt her kisses trail from his pelvic bone towards the trail of hair that led to where he desperately wanted her to touch him. Just her kisses alone though, perked up his mostly flaccid cock. She saw.

“Hmm. I’m curious.”

He scoffed, kind of interested in her teasing. “About?”

She didn’t say anything but seconds later he felt her lips surround his quickly growing cock, doing a slow suck before pulling off and grabbing it in admiration, “How it’d feel having it grow inside my mouth. It’s one thing to see it, it’s another to feel it.”

He was at the mercy of the devil.

“Uhu.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say when all he wanted was for her to do it again.

Her breath was warm against his tip as she whispered, “Don’t fuck my face. I’m not doing this to get you off, but to get you up and ready. So, think of your dad if you have to.” And then she took him in.

He was confused, wanting to feel aroused and enjoy the wonderful suck she was giving him, but . . . now his dad was on his mind. Her lips kept him aroused, but her words kept him from getting close.

She pulled away, keeping a tight grip on his members as she knelt up to be face to face with him, “Want to learn a new trick, kitty chat?”

He nodded and felt her let go before leading him down. He could guess at where she was leading him, and what she was implying, and began grasping for her thighs, trying to allocate himself between them. The sound of a head hitting a pillow, and a huff, before her hands softly grabbed at his hair, “What a view.”

“Lucky.” He grumbled, leaning his face, trying to find her thighs with it, to try and pepper kisses among them.

She sighed, “Babe, you’re killing my boner.”

He placed one kiss somewhere on her thigh, feeling bumpy skin. He softly rubbed a finger atop the rugged skin only to realize that it was a scar. And he immediately remembered the fight that caused it. A rough and bloody one, in which they both realized that not only they were getting stronger, but so was Hawkmoth and his accomplices. And they had figured out a way to break through their magic armor. As soon as the fight was over the both rushed away, worried at how the suit rips would affect their kwamis. They were physically okay, but much more fatigued than ever before, needing days to recover. They all had to learn new miraculous magic to prevent that from happening again.

Their love struggle may have become part of history, but the war was still in the present.

And it wasn’t just their lives at stake.

“Sorry.”

She softly petted him in reply.

He finally noticed that she was tired. They had just fought, she more than him, and it was very apparent in the way she laid there, waiting for him to take charge for once, waiting for bliss.

He stopped playing around. She earned this ages ago. It’s about time she got it.

He moved towards where he could guess was her pubic bone, going to place soft teasing kisses, only to realize he accidentally hit the jackpot. She immediately tensed, not expecting him to go directly for it. The pulling on his hair let him know to be softer, slower, or maybe just not that direct. He moved lower.

Placing kisses along her sex he watched out for her soft gasps, and quiet moans, using them as indications as to where to go next or if he was doing it wrong. He imagined he was in some way.

He reached his tongue out and gave a testing lick.

She gasped, her hands tightening on his hair.

“Good?”

He felt her move, maybe she shrugged? Her answers suggest so, “In some way. It could be better.”

“I’m aware. . . I’m waiting for you to teach me.”

Her soft giggle sounded softer now, “Right.”

She reached down for the hand grasping at her left thigh, forcing his fingers into a curved shape. “Put those in, delicately, and not all at once. You get the shape I’m making you do?” He nodded, “Do it and undo it inside me. Kind of. . . as though you were trying to tickle my insides. Do it towards my pubic bone and not towards my . . . ass. You’ll get better results that way.”

He kept nodding repeating the information inside his head, “. . . Okay, but. . . I was asking about the kisses.”

“Oh, you were doing perfectly fine kitty. Kitties know how to lick.”

He smirked, proud that at least he did that right.

“Now back to work, I’m only getting colder here.” Her head slammed against a pillow and her hands returned to his hair.

He nodded, going back to kissing and licking around her sex, literally blindingly touching around for her entrance, finding that even if she said she was ‘losing her boner’, her sex said otherwise.

She wasn’t kidding about it getting colder, he felt it affecting him a bit as well. But as he slipped a finger inside her, his cock re-awoke again, now knowing well what was waiting for them at the end of the line. A tight, warm, and wet entrance.

He did the tickle she told him to do, finding her body quickly tensing up and off at the gesture, recognizing the gestures like the ones his body did when she gave a really good lick around the head of his dick. The kind that blinded him and made him slightly convulse.

He liked knowing he could make her have the same reaction. And you can bet your ass he was going to do it until she actually did convulse. None of that ‘not getting you off but getting you up’ shit.

With a very clear mission in mind, he went back, slowly, to the nub that tensed her up earlier, finding that together with the fingering, he could get her to not just shake, but also moan and whine. And maybe it was his lack of sight and hyper-aware senses, but those sounded angelic.

He inserted another finger, and then a third, feeling her hands tighten on his hair, and her thighs becoming tighter around his head. Her moans were becoming more breathy and high pitched and he knew she was getting close.

Soon enough he felt her give a tight pull, maybe trying to pull him off, but he wasn’t going to back off now.

“Ch- Chat . . . no. We- I-... I wan- Oh god.”

Maybe she wanted them to come together? Fuck it, he learned a new trick and he was going to use it the best he could.

Her fingers scratched at his scalp, thighs pressing against his head and a whimper coming off of her lips as her release happened. And he stayed put, helping her through it.

He didn’t pull away until he felt her shake strongly, and pull at his head, indicating the ride was over and now it was sensitive to the touch.

He looked up, not seeing anything, but knowing she was probably glaring, and smirked, mouth and jaw coated in her juices.

“. . . You are lucky girls can have multiple orgasms.” Her voice sounded fatigued.

“Wait. . . what?” 

She softly laughed, “Yes kitty. Multiple orgasms.”

He paused, before climbing up to her, “Then let’s get right to that. You sound like you’re falling asleep already and I can’t let this night end without seeing if that statement is true or not.”

She giggled before pausing and murmuring to herself, “I will need to rip these from the bed before I leave.”

“What?”

She pulled him down, his face on hers, lips touching, “Nothing. Just that the sheets are gonna get a bit dirty, and I need to remember to change them tomorrow. But that’s not something we should talk about now. And I think your buddy down there wants you to hurry up.”

He pulled back a bit, “Yeah, about that. I need a minute. I don’t want- you know- I don’t . . . “

He heard her sigh, patiently, and accommodated herself for him, “Trust me when I say, no matter how hard you try, this won’t last long for you, kitty. At most, five minutes.”

“I’ll take that challenge.”

“It’s not a challenge, its facts-“

“Challenge accepted, and I’m doing it. Ten minutes put a timer.”

“Not a challenge, and why would I have a timer?”

“What time is it?”

“Chat!“

“You can see, what time is it?”

“Uh-... eleven nineteen. Why-?”

“Alright, my brain will get back to you at eleven thirty.”

“Chat! You can’t-”

“Let go.” He kissed her before she could argue his idea.

Now… this could have been hot… this could have been sexy, kinky sex…

But Chat had no idea in which direction to thrust.

So it was just awkward fidgeting from him and muffled giggles from her. 

Until finally he gave one wrong thrust and hurt both of them.

“Ok, kitty!” Without question she grabbed his erection, making Chat choke on his spit from the shock of the contact, and began positioning him at her entrance, “Just slowly push in.”

After he calmed down from his choke, he tried to look in the general direction of her face, before he felt her other arm wrapped around his neck and bring him closer, lips touching, and she calmly said, “Just push.”

He did as told, slowly thrusting in, trying to put all his focus on feeling how her body reacted to him. It slightly bothered him that there was barely any reaction. She just wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him in deeper, only letting out a soft moan when he was fully in.

He took a short breather, pausing where he was, before asking her, “... Am I your first?”

She huffed, that tight embarrassed smile she does could even be heard with ho tight the huff sounded, “That obvious? Anyway, I should be, unless I went around when I was fifteen.”

“. . . I heard this is supposed to hurt…”

“Oh… That... “

Behind the fold, his eyes widened, confused by what that could mean.

“Listen, don’t freak out. Girls technically lose their virginity pretty easily. Just by falling a little and a little too hard I could have lost it… But…” 

“I don’t like these pauses. They’re pretty intense when you can’t see.”

She nervously giggled, “I… I-I… So you have your hand… And that helped you whenever you went home after we played around… And I have my hand… But I wanted more… Without the commitment… So…”

Finally picking up on what she was saying he started laughing mischievously, “Is the Lady saying she has toys?” 

“Why am I embarrassed? I needed to release tension so I got the tools for it. Yes, I’ve got toys. A few of them.” She immediately went on the defensive and he couldn’t help but laugh harder.

He paused quickly though as the reason for their halt came back to him, “Wait… How big are they? Because you are acting as though you’ve done it plenty of times with guys packing way more heat than me.”

“Don’t worry kitty, I feel it. And quickly judging by what I saw you packing, maybe one of them is bigger than you, but it’s not like I use all of it. Also, have you heard of ‘size don’t matter, it’s about how you rock the boat’? Well so far, I’ve rocked my own boat. So don’t worry. You are going to leave an impression. Also, this doesn’t count for your ten minutes.”

“It should. I’m using a lot of my self-control to not pound you.” 

“... Fine.”

That settled, he leaned in close to her ear, kissing her cheeks a few times in the attempt to get to it, and huskily whispered, “Next time, bring them. And we’ll see if them fake are better than the real deal.”

She didn’t say anything, but the sharp inhale and the trembling exhale let him know she heard him and liked it.

“... Don’t even doubt to tell me if I’m doing something wrong.” 

A breathy laugh escaped her, “I’ll kick you if you do.”

With that in mind, he began to slowly move. 

He was terrified really. After having heard of the disaster that had been Nino’s and Alya’s first time, he feared to get reckless and doing the same. And it wasn’t anything that bad. Just that Nino lost himself in the moment, didn’t realize Alya wasn’t feeling it like she was, and only did realize it when she started crying. He doesn’t know what Nino did to get her to forgive him, he doesn’t know what happened for them to move on and try again, but he didn’t want to have to figure it out on his own. 

So he was slow.

And seeing as Mari was not as virgin as Alya had been, Mari was not feeling it.

“Kitty, I’m falling asleep here, and so are you.” She whispered.

He sighed, swallowing the fear, and accommodated himself to pick up more speed, but the new angle made it so he could slip out easily.

Here he was scared he was gonna hurt her, he never thought that maybe he would just fail in general.

She giggled. “You are taller than me. Our dimensions don’t exactly coordinate. You’re gonna continue slipping out if you position yourself like that.”

He sighed, “I can’t really pick up speed that well while flat on top of you.”

“Here.” She pushed him off softly, shifting beneath him before pulling him back to her. He didn’t know what she did, but her bum was not on the bed anymore.

“What- what? I don’t know what you did, but it’s scary how experienced you seem to be.”

“Girl talk. My friend tells me stories of her sex endeavors. I’ve learned a few things here and there. So I know it’s better for you if I raise myself, but putting that much weight on my legs would just cramp me up quickly, so she says to use a pillow. That’s it. I just have a pillow under my ass.”

He felt around her ass, feeling the hard pillow under her, “Oh, nice… My friend just told me that doggy style is the way to go when that happens.” 

“Your friend is right. A little lazy, but right.”

“Lazy?”

“No one likes doing pushups.”

“Huh…” He paused, hovering close to her, overthinking what was happening.

“Kitty?” 

“Mhm?”

“I feel more wind between my legs than I should.” 

He laughed, positioning himself again on her entrance, and slowly pushing in. Once inside, he accommodated himself on top of her to be able to thrust at the pace she wanted and immediately understood how this could feel like push-ups.

He ignored the small burn on his biceps as he picked up a pace that had her softly moaning, having felt worse muscles burns during other fights. This, in theory, should be easier than hanging from a building for twenty minutes. 

Finally ignoring the burn and being satisfied that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, he paid attention to what he was doing, realizing in a second how easily Nino could have lost control during his first time. It came to him like a slap on the face, so hard and out of nowhere, completely unaware of how much he had shut himself out. This felt amazing. 

Tight, wet, warm. Her legs tight around his waist, pulling, encouraging him. Her breathy moans close to his ear, softly whispering ‘yes’ every few seconds. Her arms around him, nails keeping a tight grip on his back muscles, almost like sinking an anchor on him so he won’t escape. Picking up the pace, he could feel a chill in his spine, feeling like electricity, that only encouraged him to pick up speed. 

He was nearly there when he realized what the electricity was, and he stopped, holding her hips to prevent her from finishing him before he wanted to. 

“Time.” He choked out.

“What?” God! He almost came hearing how disheveled she sounded. 

“What time is it?” 

There was a pause, the sound of her huffing breath and then, “Eleven thirty-two.”

He muttered, “Fuck yeah!” 

“What-”

“Let’s get started with those multiple orgasms.”

“Wha-” She sounded a bit confused for a second before his fingers found that place that was still a bit sensitive from earlier. “M-much – soft-t-ter now, p-please. It-t’s sens-s-sit-t-ive.” Even with the complaint, she dug her heel on his ass, encouraging him, asking him to keep thrusting. 

He did as told and quickly had her gasping for air much quicker than before. As soon as he felt her tightening he began to quickly pick up the pace, trying really hard to catch up with her. Because he was focusing slightly more on her, he managed to drag himself a bit longer than he initially expected himself to. But now she was swatting his hand away and she was even tighter and wetter than he could have imagined, and once again the electricity was running down his spine. 

He reached a point where he felt he couldn’t breathe but somehow it was great. He was choking on the anticipation. Hyping himself up, lathering himself in the feeling her tight wetness, until her dam broke and he was electrocuted. 

She reached it first and drowned him in the feeling, her insides convulsing around him and driving him over the edge. And when the bolt of electricity finally reached his member he felt like crying of joy. 

It was the moment. The feeling. The ride and the ending. The highs, the lows and the middles too. It was sloppy and uncoordinated, and it was incredible. 

He felt like she could kick him on the nuts right there and he would apologize. 

He was catching his breath, not realizing he had collapsed on her when his hearing came back to him. 

“Aw, sweetie,” She giggled, very out of breath, “Don’t cry. You did well. You did great!”

He rubbed his face on her shoulders, now feeling the wetness on his face and blindfold, “That was great.” 

His voice was back to being hoarse and he was scared to even consider how much more had he fucked up his vocal cords during that. 

She giggled, slowly leading him back to the bed, “You need to rest kitty. You’ve had a long night.”

He smiled, cuddling back to her when she finished slipping him off of her, “A great night.”

He didn’t hear much from her after that, just some humming as she soothed him to sleep. 

Chat woke up and had a small panic attack before he remembered that he had been blindfolded. The sticky gauze bandage was still stuck on his face. He laughed before pulling it off.

“What are you doing?” Before he could see her, she had turned away, hiding her face in the pillows.

He felt anger boiling up quickly. Something about her hiding her face from him felt more insulting than blindfolding him. A small voice inside his head told him there was a reason for it, but a much louder voice told him that it was because she didn’t trust him. And my god was that voice loud.

He stood up, looking around and not recognizing anything. He didn’t care. He looked around for his clothes.

“You know. . .” He reached for his underwear, putting it on, “Yesterday you asked me if I trusted you. And I said yes. Because I do. . . did.”

He didn’t look at her to see if she was listening.

She didn’t want each other to know each other’s identities? Fine.

“But it never occurred to me to ask if you,” He said aggressively putting on his trousers while searching for his shirt, “Trusted me.” Zipper up, shirt in hands he huffed.

“I didn’t think I needed to. I thought you trusted me as much as I trusted you. That you loved me as much as I loved you. But instead, here I am. Arguing with the fucking wall because I can’t even look at you, else you’ll freak out.”

He put on his shirt, angry that it had so many buttons. “We fooled ourselves into a fantasy that love was enough. Enough to put everything else on the back burner. Our identities, our problems, the reality that one day these masks would come off and we would get to see who each other were.” He finished buttoning up and looked for his belt. “But there’s a fine line between fantasy and reality and we just crossed it. And I’ve got to say, I don’t like our reality.”

He finally found his belt and didn’t even bother putting it on correctly before calling for Plagg and transforming. “You’ve got your wish. I don’t care anymore to see the girl behind the mask. She can do whatever she wants with her life. I don’t want to be a part of it. To the girl with the mask . . . see you during the next Akuma. I’ll talk with the others to get a different patrol day.”

And with that, he left.


	2. Once you hit rock-bottom, you can’t go down no more . . . or can you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for GIRLS NIGHT!  
> . . . OR GIRL-FOCUSED CHAPTER!  
> Either way, Marinette's loved ones will all try to cheer her up, all in their own ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Edited this entire chapter, but I also edited the entire story so I can't remember what I fixed here. So, strap along, and enjoy the whole thing.

Have you ever driven by in the highway and seen a totaled car? Maybe with people inside being rescued or people inside or outside already dead? Do you know that moment when you just can’t look away from disaster as you drive by it?

Or have you ever been with some friends with their families, and seen them start arguing about something you know you could help them with, but are frozen in fear, the words stuck in your throat, so you just watch as the chaos happens?

Marinette stared at the window shining early morning light into the now near empty room. She knew dawn was coming but couldn’t see much but a blur of colors as tears poured from her eyes.

He never turned. He never looked back at her from the moment he stood, angry at her reflex reaction. It’s been almost seven years of them hiding this, and at this point, she couldn’t help turning away.

He never turned, so she never saw his face. She tried though, she tried to connect the body figure, the hair, his stance, to some guy, any guy, to see if she went out now if she could find him and apologize. She figured he wasn’t going to be in his hero form for a while as he cooled off, so she wouldn’t be able to apologize for a while.

“-ait. . .” She choked out as the words that had been stuck in her throat for almost an hour since the one-sided argument happen came out.

There was no one in the room to hear her begin to sob as that knot in her throat finally left and she was free to cry as much as she could.

It was just like a car crash. One minute they were riding high, hair blowing in the wind, and the next there was just blood everywhere and no one was sure if anyone survived.

She felt a soft pressure on her cheek as Tikki laid on it, softly petting her and whispering calming words. But neither moved or did much else until the sun was high in the sky and Marinette’s stomach rumbled with hunger. She hadn’t even eaten dinner and now it was lunchtime after a strenuous fight and a night of heartbreaking memories. Her body desperately needed nourishment, and she needed a more human hug. Plus, Tikki also needed food.

“Where’s . . . my purse. . .” She was tired. Her emotional anguish had her tired.

Tikki flew looking for it as Marinette began to slowly dress up, refusing to look at her body where she knew she still had very clear evidence of what happened last night. “Here.”

Marinette tried to smile at the effort from Tikki to carry a purse that was three times bigger and two times heavier than her, but it barely dented her cheeks.

Grabbing her purse, she immediately searched for her phone, already thinking of ways she could tell this story to Alya without telling her who she had been dating and exactly why the rift happened. “Marinette?”

She looked up only to feel tiny hands on her nose as Tikki stared directly into her eyes, “It’s bad now, but bad things never last forever. You’ve reached rock-bottom, there’s nowhere else left to go but. . .”

Marinette sighed, “Up.” Tikki nodded before flying to her purse.

While she appreciated the comment, she knew she was in a state of mind where even the queen of England could come in and preach wisdom, and she would still be angsty about the situation. She wasn’t ready to move on. She just wanted to cry with a friend and eat all her worries away for now.

She left the apartment as Marinette, locking it behind her and heading out. “Hey, my boo! What’s up? Calling to ask what I’m getting you for Christmas? I already told you it’s going to be a surprise!”

“Code blue.”

Her gasp was loud, even with the phone, “No!”

“I’m on my way to my apartment, see you there.”

As she walked down the streets, still two blocks away from her bed, and two blocks away from the crash scene, she felt shame.

She had noticed a few girls looking up and down at her appearance, and a few guys snickering as well. Her walk-of-shame was clear from a mile away. She wished they would stop looking. She wished they could empathize and understand. But she knew none of them knew that her walk-of-shame was also mixed with the breakup walk.

“Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!”

Giggles, “Christmas is not until tomorrow!” She heard from across a little girl tell the fake Santa asking for donations.

He knelt to her height, “Well not for a lot of kids it won’t be.”

The girl gasped, “Why?”

“Because they can’t afford to buy the cookies and milk to help guide San- me to their chimney. Without the cookies and milk, I can’t find my way to their homes and I can’t leave gifts.”

The girl turned to her mom, baffled at the story fake Santa told her. “Is that true?”

“Santa said it, so why are you asking me? He’s the expert on the North Pole.”

“It is true.” The girl turned back to Santa, almost looking like she was about to cry, “So I decided this year I’m going to gather funds and give it to my special soldiers to deliver cookies and milk to all these children so that I can leave gifts for them tonight. Even just one euro will help.”

“Mommy, mommy, mommy! Give it to him! We need to help the soldiers give the cookies, so Santa can give the gifts.” The mother gave a soft laugh at her daughter’s enthusiasm at helping Santa, fishing for some loose change on her purse.

Marinette peered. She had forgotten what day it was, and for some -very obvious- reason, the girl’s enthusiasm for Christmas felt bitter and cruel to her. She walked away.

By the time she reached her floor, Alya was standing by her door with three bags of food and a lot of questions in her mouth. “Who the hell broke up with you? Who were you dating? How come I didn’t know about this? When did this happen? Why did he-“

“Let me at least be sitting on my bed with ice cream in my lap before I expose the cut.”

Once inside and settled into rumpled sweats and an old wool sweater, Marinette watched as Alya unpacked each bag. One filled with ice cream, one with drinks and one with a mix of sweet and salty snacks. Clearly, she wasn’t planning to leave any time soon.

Handing her the pint of mint ice cream and a spoon, Alya sat in front of her with her chocolate bars and carbonated juice between her legs. “Who is it?”

“Was. And I can’t tell you.”

She thought about at least saying that she had dated Chat Noir, but one, Alya works with him and would MURDER him if she knew that he hysterically walked out after sex, two, Alya knows Chat Noir has been in a steady relationship with Ladybug, and three, even if neither of the previous statements was true, Alya would still search for him in the middle of patrol or an Akuma attack and punch him. So, no, we’re not going to tell her who.

“What? You have to tell me, how am I-“

“Let’s just refer to him as blondie-” Marinette saw her eyebrows raised in a realization of something that she already knew wasn’t true, “Blondie who isn’t Adrien Agreste.”

Alya scoffed, “Why you gotta sink my ships?”

“I didn’t sink it, he did.”

“Anyway! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“There’s. . . a lot on the table when it comes to us two. He has his reasons why he needs to remain anonymous, and you know. . . it’s not my secret to tell.”

Alya nodded, wanting information but knowing that Marinette was forcing herself to remain calm just to give Alya the basics of the situation. “For how long-”

“Three years.”

“Three!? What the fuck, Marinette? How could you keep this from me for three years? A three-year relationship wasn’t enough for him to trust you enough for you to introduce this guy to your loved ones?”

“. . . Code blue Alya. Code blue.”

Alya sighed, “How. . . did he. . . break. . . yeah.”

“. . . I think he wanted what you asked, but I was not prepared to give it to him.” Marinette didn’t look up from her ice cream as silence filled the room.

“Oh… I don’t want to say it-”

She looked up, a bit angry, but not at Alya or at Chat, “Well say it! If I wanted to be babied I would have gone to my mother!”

. . .

. . .

“. . .This is your fault.”

Marinette nodded.

Had she reacted quicker he wouldn’t have been able to walk away or had she not reacted at all they would still be cuddling and getting take-out. “It’s my fault. I freaked out, for no reason whatsoever. . . and he reacted appropriately. And then I couldn’t stop panicking quick enough to calm him down before he called it off and walked away.”

“Oh, Mari. I’m supposed to be angry at him. I know how to do that. How am I supposed to do the best friend thing when you caused the rift?”

“Hug me while I cry in shame.”

“I’ll do you one better. I’ll spoon feed you while you cry in shame in my arms.”

“That’s why you’re my best friend.”

\---

Marinette woke up to Alya’s poking, “Merry Christmas, boo. I get you’re sad but it’s family time.”

She looked up to find Alya holding her purse and a cup of coffee. “Is that for me?” She joked.

“It is. I don’t believe you want to reunite with your parents after four months of being here for college while being tired and sour. Just one day, and then we can come back here and finish season two of Friends.”

Marinette sat up, wincing at her guilty pleasure, “There’s also New Year’s.”

“And when it’s done we will, once again, come back here and skip ahead to every New Year’s episode from Friends and hate ourselves together.”

Neither girl admitted to liking the show to their friends, who so often talked ill of it and its 90’s sense of humor, so it quickly became their girl’s night, sad night, movie night, etc. feature choice. Something they enjoyed only with each other.

“Can you come with me?” She asked sipping her coffee.

“Boo, I can’t. I literally ran out of my parents’ house yesterday for Code Blue. I’m going to sit through a lecture today because of that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s been a while since I watched Monica’s bad haircut. Made me feel better about my bob.”

Marinette stood up, going to her makeshift closet, which basically consisted of a small corner filled with one rack of fancy clothes and a bunch of boxes surrounding it. She rummaged through her hat box. “Here, a beret will do you good right now. Control those curls, look in season, and look cute.”

“I don’t want to look cute Marinette, I want to kick ass and intimidate men.”

“Then why you get a bob?”

“Because halfway through him cutting my hair I got scared. . . I wanted to get a pixie cut.”

“Well suck it up for now and put on the beret.”

Alya smiled, grabbing it, and putting it on, only to have Marinette walk up to her and fix it along with her hair. She was doing her job. Distracting Marinette from her heartbreak. “Put on some jeans and a lot of layers. It’s snowing.”

Alya left soon after with the trash and the promise to come back somewhere around eight with her gift and some actual food for this night of sad binging.

A hot shower later, now prepped with jeans, warm calf-high socks, a long sleeve black shirt, a grey wool sweater, and a pair of sparkly silver sneakers that Alya got her on her eighteenth birthday, Marinette looked at her hair. She had let it grow and it now rested below her breast, curling at the bottom. Feeling like she did enough prep and just wanted to get the day over with, she tied it into a high ponytail, and got a pair of earmuffs, leaving with her bag, no makeup, and no fucks to give about her tired looking face.

She looked depressed. She felt somewhat depressed. Why did this have to happen before Christmas?

Arriving at her parents’ house, she took a deep breath, preparing for the million questions about school and why was she not dressed in more cheerful and Christmas-themed colors.

Her parents welcomed her in with big warm hugs and too much food. Her mother asked for a second about her clothing choice before backing up. Her father asked for a good ten minutes why she didn’t wear the sparkly red jumper they had gotten her for her birthday before Sabine told him to back off, that now was not the time, and that was the end of it.

They spent the rest of the day unboxing gifts from each other and from out-of-the-country family members. Marinette had forgotten their handmade jumpers, with their names stitched in calligraphy font on the right breast, at home. She promised them she would bring it on New Year’s Eve. Sabine told her she needn’t worry about it. Marinette felt guilty.

She knew she was being mopey. She was letting her anguish knock her down, but a very smart voice in her head told her that ‘goddamn, we were just broken up with. We have the right to be depressed, barely a day has passed.’.

It was now five and Marinette was cuddled up with her mother, a cup of hot cocoa in her now gloved hands, watching the evening news as her dad finished decorating cookies he insisted on baking her to take home, clearly in hopes of cheering her up.

“Marinette?” Sabine whispered.

Marinette looked up to her mother, who had a small and tender smile on her face, “What?” She whispered back.

“Was it a boy?”

Marinette looked at her, not knowing if she wanted to start this conversation now, “. . . yes.”

“Oh, thank god.” Marinette’s eyes widened at her statement, “I just worried that something had happened between you and Alya, and I just can’t bear the idea of losing my other girl. You two need each other.”

Marinette smiled, “No, things are still good with Alya.”

“Okay, now. . . can you convince her to come here on New Year’s Eve?”

“Momma, I think she’s spending her New Year’s Eve with her family.”

“. . . Bring them too.”

Marinette giggled and nodded, “Okay, I’ll ask.”

Sabine nodded and patted Marinette’s head back on her shoulder, cuddling while watching some news report about some fake Santa delivering presents to kids in orphanages. She wondered if it was the same fake Santa and wished she had stopped, for just a second, and handed him some change.

“Alright, I have five Christmas trees, five ornaments, five candy canes, and five blobs which I don’t know what happened to them. So, what should I decorate them as?”

“Find a five-letter word related to Christmas and fancy write it on them.”

“You’re going to make me crack open a dictionary on Christmas, Beanie?”

“I’m asking you to think, Tommy.”

“I’m baking. I’m busy.” Tom replied. 

“Uhu.” 

Tom laughed at her mocking agreement.

By the time seven hit, Marinette was leaving her parents’ house with two bags of clothes, a box of cookies, a thermos full of hot cocoa and an ache to stay in her mother’s arm and cry all the bad things away.

After a big and warm goodbye from her father, she walked out with her mother, who was helping her accommodate the bags so that it would be an easy trip back home. “On New Year’s . . . wear the jumper.”

“I will.”

“This might surprise you, but it was your father who picked it for you.”

Marinette smiled, loving that after eighteen years of guiding her dad to fashion, he finally picked up on some of it. Now if only he could pick good clothes for himself. “Papa picked the sparkly jumper?”

Sabine nodded, “He saw the red sparkle and immediately ran for it just yelling ‘Marinette’. He’s convinced it will look stunning on you.”

“He’s smart.”

Sabine nodded once again before cupping her cheeks, “Whatever you’re going through, it will pass. New year, new you. New opportunities for better love.” And with that she kissed her cheeks and gave her one last pat, knowing she couldn’t hug her with everything she was carrying. “Be careful.”

Marinette nodded before going on her way.

Close to home, Marinette looked around the streets, finding them empty. Everyone was at home with their families and loved ones, “Tikki?”

Tikki opened her purse and took a peak, “Yes?”

“Come, let's walk together.”

“What if someone sees me?”

“It’s better than walking alone.”

“You’re not alone, I’m here.”

Marinette looked down between everything she was carrying. “I know but hidden in there I kinda do still feel alone. And no one’s out here. Let’s just enjoy this Christmas evening together.”

Tikki flew out and kept close to her jumper so she could hide in there quickly if anyone walked out. “Your mom is right.”

“I know. And so are you. I’m just sad now.” She looked at Tikki again, “But you look cute, and that is making me feel a little better.”

Tikki giggled and gave a spin in front of her. Marinette had made a tradition between her and Tikki that every time winter season came they would both sit down for an entire weekend and knit tiny Kwami jumpers so that Tikki wouldn’t be cold when they went out. After seven years they have made so many, neither remember what patterns and colors they have already used. Tikki opted to match Marinette by wearing a tiny, sparkly silver jumper.

“We match.”

“You match my shoes.”

“On New Year’s I’ll just be myself and we’ll still match.”

“Tikki, I know I have made a lot of red jumpers, you don’t have to be cold for us to match. Plus, you’re spotted, we wouldn’t match.”

“Right.”

As soon as they reached their apartment, they unpacked. Marinette walked off to change into some warm PJs before Alya arrived while Tikki snooped in the cookie box. “Aw!”

Shirt halfway on Marinette stopped, “Huh?”

“What your papa wrote.”

She finished dressing and untied her hair before walking over. Upon arriving at the table, she found Tikki laying with the cookies while eating a candy cane shaped one, and pointing at what her dad wrote for her.  
Five misshaped cookies in a row.

Be-ut-if-ul. And a heart messily is drawn on the last one.

“It’s not a five-letter word,” Tikki muttered, before looking up at Marinette.

Marinette nodded while smiling the biggest smile she’s done in these past few days.

Tikki flew to her shoulder, “Who need boys when you have papas?”

Marinette laughed grabbing the box and settling on her bed with the hot cocoa. Yes. Her dad was the best.

\--

“Ella be gentler with the frosting. If you press too hard it could just explode on you.”

“Oh, sorry. Like this?”

Alya and Marinette watched from the living room as Tom taught the twins to decorate cookies. After asking what she thought about the cookies and finding out that in five days she already ate them all, Tom set himself on another mission to bake a bunch of cookies for her, and as soon as he pulled out all the food coloring the twins became interested in helping him.

“. . . Oh my god, they’re going to be bakers.” Alya muttered.

Marinette laughed. Marlena and Otis have been trying to convince either girl to follow in their own professions, a competition between chef and zookeeper, and it would be hilarious if they just ended up doing neither but doing something close to what one of them is doing. They wondered if Marlena would take it as a win or accept that both are very different jobs.

“Marinette, could you help me clear your room a little bit? Bring Alya as well, she could help organize the balcony.”

Sabine planned for all of them to gather on her balcony to watch the fireworks. Marinette was very glad her obsession with Adrien had been diminished before she left for college or going back to that room could have easily been another nightmare.

“Sure. I mean I must, now that Alya has to.” Sabine ignored the giggling girls as she went up with a bunch of packing boxes.

“Wow, momma are you kicking me out?”

Sabine threw a box for Marinette to catch, “No, but we’re going to organize this mess. Look at all these books and sewing materials. If this is how you left this room, I don’t want to see how your apartment looks like now.”

“Exactly like this, but less pink,” Alya added.

“Okay, now stop laughing and clean.”

Both girls stopped their giggling and went to their stations to organize. Basically, Marinette went on to hide anything that might attract the twins’ attention.

After organizing and lighting the room, both girls were instructed to pick up some last-minute party materials before the stores closed.

Entering the store Marinette regretted her choice of clothing, thankful for the warmth the store provided away from the freezing snow.

Keeping her promise, she wore her dad’s jumper atop a silver velvet mini dress, black fingerless knit gloves, and some black knee-high boots. She wore her hair down with the red beret she had let Alya borrow, and a pair of sparkly white earmuffs her grandma had sent for her. Most of her attire was warm, and you would think the boots would protect her, but the gap between the boots and the minidress was enough to let in the cold through the worst place possible.

“This is what I get for trying to look cute and sexy,” Mari muttered disgruntledly.

“Jeans are the best.” Said Alya smirking.

Alya had been teasing her all night for wearing the minidress on a cold winter day while she was dressed like she was going to Russia. “You look like a fluff of fabrics,” Mari replied, grumpy that she wasn’t the warm fluff of fabrics. 

“Yeah, well. Fashion is not going to be the hill I die on.”

Nothing could phase Alya. She had spent the previous night with Nino doing lord knows what and she has been giddy since.

“Ugh, look for the napkins,” Marinette grumbled as she walked off to look for cups and drinks.

The Césaire's didn’t confirm until yesterday and Sabine and Tom spent the entire day preparing for all the cooking they would have to do, and now they were short on drinks and utensils.

After gathering a basket of cups, sodas and a bunch of snacks Marinette couldn’t help but grab, Alya’s boyfriend joy was depressing her even more and you can bet your ass she was going to eat her anger and sadness away, she went off to find Alya.

“Wow, yesterday wasn’t enough?”

“Just because you had a one-hit wonder doesn’t mean others do. And I plan on celebrating the new years in my boyfriend’s naked arms.” Alya said waving the box of condoms.

“I thought we were watching Friends.”

“Oh no, that’s still on. I meant the second . . . and the third . . . and- “

“Ok!”

Alya laughed, putting the condoms and a few others stuff on her basket. “Your mom won’t mind that the napkins still say Merry Christmas, right?”

“Were there no plain ones?” Alya shook her head. “She’ll be ok with it.”

Getting back to the Dupain-Cheng home, Marinette and Alya helped with the cooking for a bit before Marinette’s hype began to dial down and she excused herself from the group.

It was now dark, and Marinette was hiding in her room with the bag of all the extras they had bought and hidden in her room. She was six bags of crisps down when her stomach rumbled after smelling the ham her mother and Marlena had prepared together. The excitement for eating everything they had cooked almost cheered her up enough to go downstairs when she went to grab another bag of crisps only to realize there were none left.

“What?” She murmured to herself, “But I grabbed ten. Where- where are they?”

She looked in her bag only to find a doughnut and a chocolate bar in it, “No, no, no, no. Don’t tell me she forgot to bag it. No, no, no, no, no~” She continued whining searching in Alya’s bag to see if the cashier just distributed the snacks between all the other bags.

Marinette paused.

She didn’t find her crisps.

But she found something that raised a question in her head that she now feared the answer to.

\--

It was now past dinner and both her and Alya were hiding in her bathroom, Alya baffled and speechless for once.

Marinette now having a full-on panic attack.

Marinette looked down on the stick in her hand.

Pregnant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Okay, so I made this thing where each chapter is going to be around 5,000 words long. That means that chapters could come much faster and that maybe this will be much longer than I anticipated.  
> _I have a story chart. It has TWENTY-FIVE story points I HAVE to cover in this story. The first chapter covered four. This chapter only covered ONE. We have 20 more to go and no idea how much space each one will take.  
> _I know at the beginning of the first chapter POV was ambiguous, but after they start fighting it is very clearly Chat's POV. To help emphasize that (also because the story required it) this chapter was entirely Marinette's POV.  
> _Ladybug and Marinette may be the same person, but neither knows who Chat Noir is, same vice versa. So, Chat left Ladybug in that room. Not Adrien. Not Chat left Marinette. Chat doesn't know he left Marinette and Marinette doesn't know Adrien left her.  
> _I didn't think I would have to point that out. But PERSPECTIVE IS IMPORTANT.  
> (Edit: I know this is 4,600 words, give or take. I basically saw I had reached 10,000 and decided that I didn't want to jump to 15,000 because the next story point would have required for me to get way beyond the 5,000-word limit. Maybe I'll revise that rule.)
> 
> 10 comments for the next chapter.


	3. A Numb State of Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to Adrien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters might take a bit longer to get on as I'm actually taking time to review them with Allthejohndave before I upload them. Fewer chances for mistakes. But hopefully, I get delayed only by like two or three days.  
> There should be fewer misunderstandings. And if there's still something that you got lost on, tell me, and I'll either explain it or not because it will be explained later.  
> EDIT: This chapter was also edited. I believe it all started after Chloe showed up. Fixed a few date mistakes, the whole Nilya thing, and some other miscellaneous stuff. 
> 
> Enjoy.

The sun shines in through the wall of glass to shine brightly on Adrien’s face. Or at least it tried.

“Okay, no.”

Plagg flew towards where Adrien laid buried between blankets and pillows. “It’s been more than a week of this moping, I’m done. Get up.”

Adrien slowly lifted his head, looking like a hot mess, and glared at Plagg. “No.”

“Your friends called, the assistant called, I think even your father called. If you keep this going any longer they will soon show up to see if your alive.”

“Well they’re going to be disappointed.”

“Oh my. . .” Plagg took a deep breath, already more than tired of Adrien’s dramatic ass. “I’m not feeding you anymore. If you want food, you get up and get it.” And with that he flew to his corner in the kitchen.

Adrien settled back, not feeling hungry. He hasn’t felt hunger at all. But Plagg’s been forced feeding him, and deep down he knew he was doing it because he cared, so he obliged. But other than that, he’s has pretty much stayed hidden in the pile of blankets he now called home.

He knew he was being far too much of a drama queen. He heard the phone calls. He wondered every minute if his phone was the only thing that was getting missed calls. And then he remembered why he was sad in the first place.

And he was angry and frustrated again.

Three years of being extremely devoted and in love with her.

Seven years of unwavering loyalty and trust for her.

And here he was, crying alone.

All because she didn’t fight back.

At least once per night he would crawl out of his blanket pile in a sad attempt to reach his phone, only to remember he didn’t have her phone number, or even her name, and that was the entire reason he was crying by himself on Christmas eve, and Christmas night.

And last night on New Year’s Eve.

He heard a knock on the door.

“Adrien? Dude! Are you in there?”

Adrien groaned, loudly enough to be heard, at Nino’s worried voice. He wanted to be alone and not have to explain to anyone why his life was shit this time, but he also knew alienating people would only drag them closer. Because he had such great. Fucking. Friends.

Adrien glared at the door, wishing, just this one time, that Nino would just be a shitty friend and let him pretend to be dead for a few more days.

“ADRIEN AGRESTE. I HEARD YOU IN THERE. OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR BEFORE I CRUSH YOUR STUPID, FANCY FLAT TO PIECES.”

“Fuck.” Adrien whispered.

Nino brought his angry ball of love.

Adrien got up and all but dragged himself to the door, unlocking it.

What Alya and Nino saw was not pleasant.

Adrien’s hair was a mess, matted and stuck in weird places. There were dark rings under his eyes, a few stains of dried food Plagg had force-fed him on his cheeks and forehead, and a messy blonde beard covering half his face. He was dressed in sweatpants that were clearly far too many days old. Adrien was the literal definition of ‘abandoned’.

“Oh, I’m sorry sir. It appears we have the wrong floor. We’re looking for our friend Adrien Agreste. Have you seen him? He’s a model.”

“You’re a bitch, Alya.” Adrien grumbled, throwing the door to the wall in frustration and walking away.

“And my bitchiness has been helping someone through a rough time.” Alya said walking in, her eyes never leaving Adrien, “What happened to you?”

Adrien shrugged, settling back in bed, glaring at the sun.

“Code grey?” Nino said, closing the door, already noticing the pattern.

Adrien nodded, burying himself deeper in the blankets.

Nino looked at Alya who waited for Nino to explain what ‘code grey’ was, “Breakup.”

“Wow.” Alya looked at Adrien, moping on his bed, “What a rough week for lovers. We better watch out babe, we might be next.”

Alya settled next to Adrien, pushing him to the center and blocking the sun from him. Nino settled on his other side, “Is that why you haven’t answered your phone?”

Adrien nodded, secretly enjoying having his two friends forcing their way in to comfort him.

“When did it happen?” Alya asked, looking around at the mess in his room.

“Before Christmas.”

Alya gave a mocking, breathy laugh, “Wow. Just like Mari. This Christmas Eve had a curse!” 

Adrien looked up at Alya, who was clearly doing everything possible to distract him or cheer him up, “What happened to Chanel?”

Chanel was a nickname he gave to Mari after their first real hangout as friends and not as friend-and-unrequited-love. He invited her to a photoshoot inside the Gabriel building and gave her a tour of the fashion design department. But the best part of it was when three fashion design company owners walked in to have a meeting with his father and Mari immediately recognized Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, the current owners of the Chanel Company, and straight up just yelled ‘Chanel!’ while pointing at them in awe.

He never let her forget it.

“Chanel was broken up with during Christmas Eve.”

Adrien gasped, “Why?”

“Conflict of interest, and a small misunderstanding. Chanel is working up the courage to go and talk to him.”

Adrien felt horrible. Horrible that while he was here moping about the break up he caused, his most excitable best friend was broken-hearted somewhere else. He should have been there to help her, as Alya and Nino had most likely been. Hell, maybe that had been one of the reasons they were calling.

“How is she? How is she now?”

“Recovering. I let her sleep in. She had a rough night. Gotta go visit her tomorrow and talk about some things.” Adrien opened his mouth to ask but Alya interrupted him, “Ah, ah, ah, private things. Girl things.”

Adrien nodded and laid back down.

“You know. It's rather convenient you both had break ups on the same day. Are you Marinette’s mysterious blonde?”

Adrien scoffed and shook his head. As though he would do that to that little ball of sunshine. “No.”

Nino leaned in close to Adrien, now with a smirk on his face, “You know Marinette had a huge crush on you right?”

Adrien nodded, “She told me. And I told her I was interested in someone else.”

Both Nino and Alya’s shoulder sagged. They knew there was a reason Mari and Adrien became normal, casual friends out of nowhere, Alya knew that Adrien had turned her down, as she had learned recently. But neither knew how he did it.

“Was this ‘someone else’ the someone who broke up with you?” Nino edged in, beginning the Breakup Interrogation.

Adrien looked at Nino. “I broke up with her.”

Nino paused, not expecting that, “. . . Then why are you here moping?”

“Because I was- Am! Frustrated about what she did that led me to break up with her.”

“Did she cheat on you?” Alya asked.

“No.”

“Did she blackmail you?” Nino asked.

“No.”

“Did she do anything illegal?” Alya asked a little louder and a little bit more frustrated.

Adrien sighed, knowing this was going nowhere. “She. . . rejected me. . . in some way.”

. . . Alya took a deep breath that he recognized as the ‘I’m might just beat your ass’, indicating she was angry or offended, “Listen Agreste, non-consent is no reason to break up with a girl. If she doesn’t want to do that, she doesn’t want to do it.”

Adrien scoffed, “Oh no, she gave consent to that. But then. . .”

Nino flinched, “You were that bad?”

Adrien groaned and slammed his face into the pillow, “Why am I friends with you two?” 

“Because we say it like it is. Now, were you that bad?”

Adrien glared at Nino, ignoring Alya’s giggles, “I figure not since she orgasmed twice.”

“Oooh, my boy is now man! Did you hear that Ly? Orgasmed twice!”

“I’m right next to you both, Nino.” Alya’s face was not amused, her feminist attitude most likely detecting the sexist boy talk. 

Nino laughed, nervously, looking back at Adrien. “So, why did she reject you?”

Adrien shrugged, “There was a part of her she didn’t want me to see. I know some of the reason, but . . . after over five years of her rejecting me that way I just. . . got tired. Enough is enough. How many times can you get burned before you learn to stop putting your hand in the fire?” 

Alya patted him, softly not wanting to find out what the stains were, “So, you don’t want to talk with her and see if you can fix this? Cause a five-year relationship sounds like something you should talk more about to try and fix.”

Adrien shook his head. “I don’t want to get burned again. I know there’s someone out there that will love me without hiding half of who they are, and I won’t have to do the same with. Someone I won’t have to keep a secret from my friends.”

Alya nodded, knowing well he was making a very well-educated decision based on his experience with this girl. If he thought that that was enough, then they would have to accept it and help him move on. “Need some Aloe Vera?”

“Alya, you bitch.” Adrien groaned, ignoring their laughter and hiding his face on his pillows again, hating the bitter irony of what he was doing and wondering, for the billionth time, if walking away had been the right option.

He had wanted to go back. He thought, ‘Oh, what a childish move. I should go back and maybe yell some more. See if she has anything to say.’. But his pride and anger took the best of him and he just went and made a beeline home.

“Take a shower. We’re going out. You have a pile of gifts waiting for you, a pile of gifts to give to us, and a post-Christmas dinner to make up for. Plus, you can take this chance to cheer up Mari with your. . . bright personality.”

Alya pulled at him until he finally fell off the bed, angering him enough to get up and go take that shower.

After putting on a long sleeve shirt, a wool jumper, and some jeans, he left with the duo, his arms occupied with those gifts he had gotten them a month prior to Christmas. Better to be prepared.

Nino helped Adrien bring in the boxes to his apartment, while Alya went off to pick up Mari. They guessed they had about an hour and a half alone before the girls came back.

“It really wasn’t sex-related, right? You didn’t lie because Alya was there.”

Adrien sighed, “While yes, your girlfriend scares me, no. I didn’t lie.”

Nino nodded, looking for champagne or any alcohol he may have hidden in his apartment after his parents’ visit.

“Nino, I promise you, no matter how drunk you get me, the story won’t change.”

Nino laughed, “I was hoping a little bit of the happy juice would relax Marinette and help her forget.”

“Oh right, Chanel is sad too.”

Nino flinched, “Maybe. . . maybe don’t call her Chanel today.”

“Nah, I’ll call her Chanel and she’ll call me Banana Head. And we’ll both feel better about our shitty love lives.”

Nino placed the bottle of red wine on the table and paused, “When. . . when did you reject her?”

“Three years ago.”

“So, you were already dating this girl.” Nino looked like he was putting together a puzzle.

“No. We started dating afterward.”

Nino looked confused, “I thought you said five years.”

“I’ve known her for over five years. We dated for three.”

“Oh. Rough.” Nino’s sympathized. 

“Thanks for your kind words.”

Nino shook his head, “If you want kind words, wait for Chanel.”

Adrien sighed, “Open that bottle.”

Adrien and Nino had finished their first glass and were watching the news, both secretly hoping for no Akuma attack, when the girls came in.

“Look who else I managed to drag out of bed!”

Chanel softly pushed Alya as she discarded her jacket.

Alya stood proudly beside her, “I’m two for two today!” She looked at the boys with their glasses and immediately dropped her smile, “You started without us?”

Nino desperately defended himself, “He was sad.”

“And you’re the adult here.”

Nino shrugged, “He was sad.”

Alya groaned, pulling Marinette, who was carrying both their presents for Adrien, towards the living area.

Nino got up and looked for two glasses as Alya and Adrien organized the gifts, so they could comfortably settle down and have a good evening.

Handing a glass to both girls, Nino began to serve before Marinette interrupted him, “Uh- . . . Could I just have some orange juice?”

Alya rolled her eyes, “Marinette, it could have been wrong.”

“Yes, but I’m not going to be a monster gamble at it. If it's right and I take that gamble and drink it, I’m the irresponsible monster. So... just orange juice.”

Nino paused, looking between them, trying to read both their minds and figure out what they were secretly talking about. He finally looked at his girlfriend, figuring it would be easier to read her.

Alya glared back, glass empty in her hand, pushed in his direction waiting.

“Ugh, Nino-“

Nino gasped loudly, “GIRLS CAN’T GET PREGNANT.”

Everyone looked at him confused at his statement.

It took him a minute before he realized what he said, “I MEAN PREGNANT CAN’T GET GIRLS. FUCK, PREGNANT- DRINK- NO!”

Alya giggled, “I believe in you baby, you can do it.”

Nino took a deep breath, then looked at Marinette, “Pregnant girls can’t drink.”

Marinette wanting to respond but also not admit that he may be right, joked, “I’m sure they can drink. Just not alcohol.”

Nino took a deep breath, not wanting to play around, and sighed, “You spend too much time with Alya.”

Marinette shrugged.

Adrien pushed forward from the couch, “Are you pregnant?”

Again, Marinette shrugged, “As Alya said, it could go either way.”

“How. . .” Nino and Adrien looked at each other confused at how the idea of pregnancy got in both their heads but neither are sure.

“You either are or you aren’t,” Nino said.

Alya got up and pushed past Nino, pulling the bottle of wine, serving herself and settling her glass down to go look for that orange juice. “It’s too early to be sure, and she took a home test. It could be wrong. I’m gonna take her to the OB/GYN next week whether she wants to or not. Even if she isn’t pregnant, after you become active you have to see him and get checked, Mari .”

Marinette rolled her eyes and shrugged.

“Plus, even if she is pregnant, it is so early she could just as well lose it in this next week. So, don’t freak out. It could be nothing.” Alya added.

Adrien shrugged, settling back in the couch. “ . . .It could also be a tumor.”

“Dammit, Adrien!” Nino exclaimed.

“Wow, Mr. Sunshine over there, calm down.” Alya sarcastically said.

“Well, now I’m hoping for the baby.” Marinette joked, knowing he was trying to make a joke of the situation.

Adrien smiled proudly. He had a lot to make up for. . . Well, one week. But yeah.

“Wait, what’s going on?”

Chanel looked at Alya who was looking at the tv that had been put on silence. Grabbing the remote from between the couch cushions, Nino raised the volume at the apparent heist going on south of Paris.

“The couple are now driving at high speed by ‘Parc Montsouris’ and appear to be close to leaving Paris. The couple stole many expensive art pieces from the ‘Fondation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain’. They- Oh, it appears the police are catching up to them with the help of Miraculous Hero Queen Bee. It’s strange to see her out this early.”

At the mention of Queen Bee, everyone in the room froze, no one daring to look at each other.

Adrien could feel Plagg inside his jumper, trying to pinch him, telling him to do something. “Uhm- “

“She looks like she’s doing a good job, right?” Chanel said, looking at everyone expectantly.

Everyone nodded, confused but also desperate to believe it was true and that they didn’t have to come up with some excuse as to why they had to leave right then.

The crew watched as the couple made it past the highway unto Gentilly when Bee dropped upon the van, scaring them, and making them drive up to a barrier, halting their chase altogether It sure is a good thing she has amazing agility to get away from the crash on time.

Even with that in mind, they all felt guilty for not helping her. But what help would they have been able to provide when, even with their speed abilities, they wouldn’t have made it there before she dropped on them.

“She did a good job.” Whispered Alya, bothered by the silence.

After watching silently as the couple was arrested and Bee, predictably, dropped down for an interview Nino couldn’t handle it anymore and just said anything to break the silence.

“So, I’ve made some music. And I sent it to some schools, so that maybe, just maybe, I could study music.”

Alya immediately fell into the vibe, scoffing, “You could study music now!”

“Where am I going to get the money for that? Adrien won’t give me my inheritance!” Nino whined

“That’s because I have to die before you can get it, dumbass.” Adrien scoffed.

Nino paused, pretending to think, “. . . That could be arranged.” 

Adrien laughed, “Hiring a hitman costs more than college. Trust me.”

“Who have you tried to kill?” Chanel exclaimed, finally joining the conversation.

“No one. I just know. Just in case.”

They all looked at Adrien, getting a tiny glimpse at Adrien’s dark side. Not the first time it has happened but shocking nonetheless.

“. . . So, your music? What did you send? Can we hear it?” Alya desperately tried to change the subject.

“Loudly?” Adrien muttered, jokingly suspicious.

“ADRIEN!” Alya yelled.

“I’M NOT GOING TO MURDER YOU GUYS.” He yelled while laughing at Alya’s reaction. “So easy.”

Chanel laughed, already too comfortable with dark humor.

Nino and Alya looked at both, deciding that if having to laugh at a few murder jokes was what was needed to be done to cheer up their friends then they would do it.

\--

It was a few days later when Adrien was arriving home when he saw her. He was not surprised to find Chloe waiting by his door. She had come once before, but after a few minutes of him ignoring her knocking, she left, assuming that he had gone on the business trip with his father-- he guessed--. 

“I knew you were still here,” Chloe grumbled.

“I’m sorry.” 

He proceeded to walk past her, to his door, ignoring her heavy breathing and his only neighbor - the floor he was on only had two apartments… or suites? All he knew was that Alya, Nino, and Chanel all thought this was too big to be an apartment- arriving home with his dog that had lately taken a liking to bark in the middle of the night... He should say something.

“For ignoring me for a whole week? Calls? Me knocking on your door? Adrien, I was worried! You went complete MIA.”

“I know.” He opened the door, only closing it once she had disgruntledly made her way in. 

“What even happened? Why were you refusing to communicate with the world?”

He looked at her, his best friend from childhood, the one who knew him best and just stared.

She took one good look at him and figured it out. “You were going through a break-up…”

He nodded and shrugged, going to the kitchen to find something to feed Chloe. He needed to get some groceries soon. 

“And you went through it alone? Why?” Her voice was soft, as though she couldn’t believe Adrien would be stupid enough to take the burden by himself, even though that’s all he’s ever done.

“It felt right. I was. . . Am still angry at what happened, and I partly still blame myself. So I didn’t want anyone comforting me.” 

“That’s dumb,” Chloe muttered.

He softly laughed, “Always one for sweet words, weren’t you Chloe?”

She ignored him, sitting down on his couch, motioning for him to follow, “Come. Tell me about it.”

He sighed, dramatically groaning as he slouched towards the couch, making a mess of himself on whatever space she wasn’t covering. 

She rolled her eyes, trying to hide a smile, “Go on.”

“So. . . I’ve been dating this girl for-”

“Three years, I think. I figured. You’ve been smitten and patient ever since.”

Adrien tried to ignore her smug smile as she gloated over his shocked expression, he clearly had not expected her to even suspect. “Anyway! A few things between us made it so that we had to keep it a secret. Along with some other stuff. . .” He gave a quick look at her to see her smiling, waiting, his tone lowered and slowed down, “And I got tired.”

“Of the secrets.”

He nodded, ignoring how she seemed to perfectly know what was going on. “And. . . she did something that made me . . .” He sighed. “She- I don’t- I don’t know what to tell you, Chloe.”

“It’s ok. I understand. . .” She smiled softly, nodding and petting his hair.

He moved towards her, settling his head on her lap, “Thank you, Chloe, I just don-”

“Ladybug has always been very anal about the identity issue. I always expected you would get tired of it eventually.” 

Adrien paused, or better said, choked on what he was saying. He could hear her smugness in her voice, and he wondered for a second how sure she was of her statement.

“What do you-”

“Oh for God sakes, Adrien!” She gave a dry laugh, scoffing as though it was obvious as day, “Who else in this entire city would entrust me with a Miraculous? Who else sees good in me and always had hope that I would be better? No one else in Paris sees a friend out of me but you. And once you gave me the miraculous, it wasn’t that hard to connect the dots that blonde kitty chat was actually blonde Adrien. Same body, almost the same hair, same voice, trusted me. It was easy!”

He sat up and stared at her, mouth open, before finally, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

She shrugged, wide eyes, as though it was obvious, “Ladybug. She made it clear we had to keep our identities a secret, and I just thought it would be cruel to you sweetie if I told you I had figured you out. Plus,” She gave a soft motherly smile, “You were having fun. I wasn’t going to ruin that.”

“How would you have ruined that?”

“. . . You looked so happy and free. No one knew who you were so you had no expectations to fulfill.” She shrugged again, “I’m done being a monster. And no one deserves to be free more than you do.” 

He didn’t know what to say. Chloe had known from the beginning simply because he was the one to give the miraculous to her, and no other reason. All because he believed in her. And she kept quiet because she believed he deserved this freedom. He now hated not answering the door. 

She ruffled his hair and smiled, “Now tell me the full story.”

The sun was now gone and Chloe appeared to be having problems picking sides. 

“I love you, Adrien. . . I do love you. . . But I’m wondering why did you rush out of there. You love her. It’s obvious you do, but you didn’t give her a chance to defend herself. Or to talk. And then you went MIA. And she’s been so worried about you. But. . . I never understood why we had to keep secrets from each other. That always felt unnecessary. So in summary. . . I just think you’re both stupid.”

Adrien silently laughed, shaking his head, “That’s my Chloe.”

“You need to talk to her.”

He shook his head, getting up to light more lights other than the table lamp, “Not now, not yet. I’m still dealing with my emotions, and. . . I’m still angry. And if there’s anything I’ve learned these past few years is that anger is unpredictable. And I’ve done some really stupid stuff while I’m angry. I. . . I almost gave up my miraculous in the middle of an Akuma fight because of how angry and frustrated I was. . . It’s best to wait for my anger to stop boiling.”

Chloe stayed silent, staring in shock from the moment he admitted to almost giving up his miraculous. 

Adrien was done turning on the lights when he heard her intake breath. 

“I’m sorry for the shit I said in the texts.”

\--

Chat sat a few levels lower than he used to do with Ladybug on the Eiffel Tower. He patiently waited as his baton continued to beep constantly, message after message coming in, after his two weeks. . . vacation? After saying goodbye to Chloe, he immediately transformed after her news of the hero texts and set out to one of his favorite parts of Paris only to remember why he left and why he was being bombarded with texts. They immediately started as he transformed, continued as he traveled to the tower, and have yet to cease.

Chat saw the moon get high in the sky when finally, it stopped.

**

Dec/26

12:38pm_Bee: Hey you fool! We could have used your help today! Do you no longer see the news?  
1:43pm_Bee: Chat?  
3:30pm_Bee: Oh, now you’re ignoring us?  
7:10pm_Bee: Did you finally run out of lives?  
11:00pm_Bee: Wow, what did we do to piss you off?

1:00pm_Turtle: Dude, did you see how cool we were on this fight? Rena sure kicked ass. And they all looked so scarred of BB.,. ,, hahahahahhabs  
1:05pm_Turtle: Sorry. *scare *. I know how anal you are about proper writing.  
1:05pm_Turtle: **scared!!  
7:15pm_Turtle: BB asked me to harass you.  
8:15pm_Turtle: Hey dude, are you ok?  
11:05pm_Turtle: I hope you’re alright dude. Give me the ok when you get back on.

7:11pm_Foxy: Bee is freaking the fuck out!!!!1!11!!  
11:02pm_Foxy: Whatever she did to piss you off, I don’t care. Just tell her to shut up and back off!!!!11!!!1!!11! >:(

Dec/27

10:00am_Bee: I gave you a day and you still haven’t responded. I’m worried!  
10:02am_Bee: It doesn’t make me feel better that Lady isn’t responding either.  
11:05am_Bee: Did you guys die or something?  
1:50pm_Bee: Never mind.  
1:51pm_Bee: She just came in, told us to calm down and give you some space.  
2:00pm_Bee: What happened? 

10:05am_Turtle: BB has reached that annoying stage when she’s spamming us like we’re at fault for your disappearance.  
10:30am_Turtle: But honestly, I AM worried.  
10:31am_Turtle: With a capital W.  
10:40am_Turtle: Do you know where Lady is?  
2:02pm_Turtle: Are you ok?  
2:03pm_Turtle: Do you want to talk about what happened?  
5:00pm_Turtle: All right. Take your time.

10:10am_Foxy: I will kill Barbie if she doesn’t shut up. She’s acting like your demented girlfriend.  
10:15am_Foxy: What did you do to Lady, and why isn’t she responding?  
2:01pm_Foxy: . . . What happened between you and Lady?  
2:30pm_Foxy: I know I’m a bit aggressive, but I’m here for you.  
3:02pm_Foxy: Lady seems like she’s really!! Sorry!!  
5:02pm_Foxy: Take your time.

Dec/30

12:45pm_Bee: Happy New Years! o<):-D

10:02am_Turtle: Happy New Years. (≧∇≦)/

11:30am_Foxy: Happy New Years!!!!!!!!111!1!1! ＼(◎o◎)／

3:02am_Bugaboo: I’m sorry.

Jan/2

1:05pm_Bee: AGAIN! COULD HAVE USED YOUR HELP TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
1:09pm_Bee: Listen, I fight even when I’m sad, angry or on my period!  
1:10pm_Bee: So, the LEAST you can do is get off your ass and do your hero duty!!!!!!!  
1:50pm_Bee: At least Lady is getting on, even if for like 5 minutes, just to tell us she’s alive.

3:06pm_Turtle: Rise my friend, new year, new you.  
3:20pm_Turtle: I have far too many friends going through breakups right now.  
3:21pm_Turtle: I can’t even keep up of who’s story is who’s.  
3:57pm_Turtle: Talk to Lady.

4:00pm_Foxy: Talk.  
4:00pm_Foxy: To.  
4:01pm_Foxy: LADYBUG  
4:01pm_Foxy: !!!!!!!!1!1!1!1!!

6:09pm_Bugaboo: I’m sorry.  
6:10pm_Bugaboo: I instinctively hid.  
6:35pm_Bugaboo: I never wanted to hurt you.  
6:39pm_Bugaboo: I still don’t.  
7:11pm_Bugaboo: Are you ok?  
8:09pm_Bugaboo: I’m sorry.

Jan/3

11:56pm_Bugaboo: I’m so sorry.

Jan/4

11:39pm_Bugaboo: Please talk to me.

Jan/5

11:50pm_Bugaboo: All right. You need your space.

Jan/6

10:06am_Bee: IT’S BEEN TWO WEEKS!!!!!

10:07am_Turtle: -->ARE<\-- YOU DEAD?

10:06am_Fox: OH MY GOD! LB IS WRECKED JUST AS MUCH AS YOU AND SHE’S STILL WORKING!

11:09am_Bugaboo: I won’t bother you.

To Bee:

7:03pm_Kitty: You suck. :)

TheHeroSquad:

7:06pm_Kitty: I’m going to take the Sunday patrols.  
7:07pm_Kitty: I apologize for not helping in these last few days.  
7:07pm_Kitty: Lost track of time.

To Turtle:

7:09pm_Kitty: Thanks dude . I’m sorry for blacking out of the group.  
7:09pm_Kitty: I needed time to think.  
7:10pm_Kitty: I’ll tell you when I feel good again.  
7:12pm_Kitty: Sorry about your friends.  
7:13pm_Kitty: I get it. My friend had a rift too.  
7:16pm_Kitty: You guys looked cool while fighting.

To Foxy:

7:19pm_Kitty: *!  
7:19pm_Kitty: *! >:(  
7:19pm_Kitty: *! (*￣m￣)  
7:20pm_Kitty: Thanks for caring. I’m sorry for worrying you.  
7:20pm_Kitty: I’ll deal with it when I feel ready.

To Ladybug:

7:40pm_Chat Noir: I still need time.

**

Chat looked at the sky, now full of stars, finally swallowing that knot that had been in his throat ever since the beeping began.

Part of him felt good that his friends worried about him. But their reactions in real-time to the disaster only reopened the wounds to the same stretch as when they were first placed on his heart. He relived it, after every message, he relived it.

He planned to talk to her. He did. But he needed to mend his reopened wounds. The anger boiled up again and he knew that if he asked her to come and talk now, he would just yell and hurt her feelings.

So, he just breathed in the winter night and listened for the sound of danger.

Patrolling alone sucked.

\--

He did it again. Well, not entirely.

Years of pent-up emotions and years of hiding them meant that now that he wasn’t being entirely micro-managed by his father, when he experienced an emotion, mostly the negative ones, they came out exploding like a volcano that had been dormant for too long.

He did do his patrols. He didn’t help with regular civilian crimes for fear of seeing Ladybug, who the crew had told him was back to working and leading them. And right now, he was praying to every god out there for no Akuma to appear. He wasn’t ready to see her yet, and there would be no excuse to not help with the Akuma.

It has been a month since he came back to patrolling and still no Akuma.

At this point, their romantic drama was no longer what was keeping them on edge.

**

TheHeroSquad:

4:32pm_Turtle: There’s no way he just. . . gave up!  
4:33pm_Bee: Maybe he retired. He WAS old.  
4:34pm_Turtle: Bee. How bad is your memory?  
4:34pm_Foxy: OLD?  
4:35pm_Turtle: Just … seven? Years ago, he looked like he could have been in his 30’s.  
4:36pm_Ladybug: Or early 40’s.  
4:36pm_Foxy: SHE CALLED HIM OLD?  
4:37pm_Bee: Oh My God, Fire Crotch! I’m Sorry to Have Offended Your Boyfriend!!!  
4:38pm_Foxy: I’m a brunette.  
4:39pm_Ladybug: You’re a redhead ! It’s just darker on the roots.  
4:40pm_Turtle: No, it isn’t. It’s fiery red. O.O  
4:41pm_Ladybug: No. It’s like a .... Mahogany.  
4:42pm_Bee: . . .  
4:42pm_Turtle: Oh Lady...  
4:42pm_Chat Noir: . . .  
4:43pm_Foxy: Oh my god.  
4:45pm_Turtle sent an img. RenaRouge.jpg  
4:45pm_Turtle: Fiery red. >:)  
4:46pm_Ladybug: . . .  
4:46pm_Foxy: Oh my god. (~_~)  
4:47pm_Chat Noir: uh . . . I . . . I don’t think I have to explain that my eyes are not naturally this green.  
4:48pm_Bee: ^  
4:48pm_Turtle: Heheh. Oh Lady. You could have just kept quiet.  
4:48pm_Foxy: Jesus Christ.  
4:49pm_Chat Noir: The suits. . . do. . . change some stuff. . .  
4:50pm_Turtle: No one had to know...  
4:50pm_Bee: Kitty Chat would know. Right?  
4:50pm_Foxy: It’s like watching a train wreck, except I’m in it.  
4:51pm_Chat Noir : ?  
4:52pm_Bee: The suits changes stuff. Like . . . your genitals?  
4:53pm_Turtle: Oh, that was weak BB. That was weak.  
4:54pm_Bee: Shut up. I lost the joke as I was writing it. I’m distracted looking for danger.  
4:54pm_Bee: Anyway, back to Ladybug knowing with determination and a passion that Rena’s hair is really a dark red…  
4:55pm_Bee: Explain?  
4:56pm_Ladybug: For the same reason Chat knows who you really are.  
4:57pm_Turtle: The bee shoots a bullet at the ladybug, and the ladybug responds by shooting a cannonball at the black cat. What will happen next? Stay tuned.  
4:58pm_Foxy: Slowpoke… not now.  
4:58pm_Bee: . . .  
4:59pm_Turtle: Weren’t we all given our miraculous by Lady???  
5:00pm_Chat Noir: I gave Bee hers. And Master Fu gave it to me.  
5:00pm_Ladybug: Master Fu gave it to us.  
5:01pm_Ladybug: . . . to me. . .  
5:03pm_Turtle: And the black chat shoots back water balloons. While less bloody, they are equally as effective.  
5:04pm_Foxy: I will help them hide your body.  
5:05pm_Turtle: No need. I’ll bury myself.  
5:10pm_Turtle: Guys?  
5:15pm_Turtle: Did I piss them off?  
5:17pm_Bee: Robbery.  
5:17pm_Turtle: Oooh, where?!  
5:18pm_Bee: Passage de Panoramas.  
5:20pm_Turtle: Not even close. Good luck you guys!!  
5:45pm_Foxy: Yo, Lady! Where you at?  
5:46pm_Ladybug: South. This guy keeps staring creepily at the children in the park. I don’t feel comfortable leaving the place until he leaves.  
5:46pm_Foxy: Roger.  
5:46pm_Foxy: Slowpoke, where you at?  
5:47pm_Turtle: Southeast. Didn’t realize she was that close.  
5:47pm_Bee: Yo Fire Crotch, where you at?  
5:47pm_Foxy: (/◕ヮ◕)/  
5:48pm_Foxy: With my bee!!  
5:48pm_Bee: Buzz-Buzz!  
5:48pm_Foxy: Ack- ackwoooo !  
5:49pm_Chat Noir: Save me.  
5:50pm_Bee: We told you to Meow!  
5:50pm_Foxy: Why is it that when we DO want you to make puns, you don’t do them?  
5:50pm_Chat Noir: -_-  
5:52pm_Turtle: Yo. Movie night? The Japanese movies are back!  
5:52pm_Bee: YASS!  
5:52pm_Foxy: LETS GO NOW!  
5:56pm_Ladybug: The guy might make a move.  
5:57pm_Chat Noir: I guess I’ll go.  
5:59pm_Turtle: Another water balloon! Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s about to go down!  
6:00pm_Turtle: Someone stop me.  
6:02pm_Ladybug: You’re funny.  
6:02pm_Turtle: We must be REAL close, because I felt the chill from here.  
6:03pm_Ladybug: I mean it. I laughed aloud. Might have blown my cover.  
6:03pm_Ladybug: Go have fun guys. I’m gonna stay here and protect children.  
6:04pm_Bee: . . .  
6:04pm_Foxy: . . .  
6:04pm_Chat Noir: . . .  
6:06pm_Turtle: GUYS, THE NEXT SHOWING STARTS IN 30 MINS! GET HERE!  
6:08pm_Turtle sent a pin location.  
6:08pm_Ladybug: Go. :)  
6:10pm_Bee: . . . On my way.  
6:10pm_Foxy: Right behind her.  
6:11pm_Chat Noir: I want a slushie.

**

Did Chat feel guilty about only agreeing to go after he knew she wasn’t going? Yes. Was he going to take it back? No.

Did he feel guilty that their friends were in an inner debate in between choosing sides or not? Of course! Was he mad that they were most determined to stay neutral and on neither side? Somewhat. Was he going to apologize for making them feel like they need to pick sides? Noooo!

Did he hate putting them in the middle of their argument? … Actually no. They’re a good buffer. Keeps him in check.

“You are an ass!” Carapace remarked when he saw them.

Chat scoffed, “I’m the ass? I’m not the one that was narrating it like it was a game show!”

“I was trying to melt down the ice you two made.” Carapace was on high defense. Even if none of them knew who she was or what she did, they all felt highly defensive about Ladybug.

Chat sighed, “I didn’t come here to get lectured. I came here to spend time with friends and forget my woes.”

Bee groaned, “Kitty, you really need to talk to her.”

Chat, having heard this for the entirety of the last month, was now at his last straw, “I WON'T! Okay! Every time I think about seeing her in person I just want to punch her. And I don’t! I DON’T! want to punch her! I know! I know well I’m still being irrationally angry, but I still can’t stop seeing red. And not the good kind. So, for now, NO. I won’t talk to her unless you guys want to see her with a black eye. And I don’t want to see her with a black eye. When I can finally think of her and not get furious, I’ll go and talk to her.”

No one said a word.

“Movie?”

They all nodded and followed Chat into the cinema.

Chat was angry, yes. But the real reason he didn’t want to see her was that he was scared he would break apart in front of her and beg her to take him back. She played with him too much, and he wasn’t going to let her do it again. Ladybug had her chances and she wasted them all.

Now they all gotta live with the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this helped clear up anything you were doubtful about. Again, if it didn't, ask.


	4. And the tables flipped.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette comes to term with her new reality.  
> Adrien begins to discover things about himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I MADE UP FOR IT! FOR THE FACT THAT THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS WERE SHORT FROM 5K. I MADE UP LONG TIME!  
> So this one took an obvious while to write as inspiration came and went and as I and Allthejohndave revised over and over again for mistakes and misunderstanding.  
> Now some of you guessed it. And that bothered me to almost the point of changing the entire plot because I'm THAT proud. But a lot of smart people calmed me down from that dumb idea.  
> Now don't be scared to make theories and comment. I love your comments and they inspire or help me write the next chapters.  
> I don't know what else to say...
> 
>  
> 
> ~~EDIT: I apologize greatly for rushing the pregnancy. Later when I'm about to post the last chapter I'll go back and fix all of these chapters and I'll do my best to expand this one and the pregnancy. Also, add more of Chloe because I completely forgot about her.~~  
>  ~~EDIT 2: This chapter has been edited, with new scenes.~~
> 
> **EDIT 3: The entire story has been edited, along with this chapter, but I can't remember what I fixed here...**
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy reading.

Code Blue was an SOS sort of code where, no matter where you were, no matter what you were doing you had to drop everything and go help your girl.

They had a few more codes like:

Code Pink: Special date, fancy event or boyfriend's family event where one was needed as soon as possible to help the other with clothes, shoes, makeup and that small panic attack that always comes before a big event. (If the helper is at uni or at their own date or boyfriend/family event, the in-need will have to respect that and deal with it on their own.)

Code Yellow: One sighted the Blonde Devil doing shitty stuff and them, together, must gather to help the victim. (They haven't used this one in a while.) (Only if the helper isn't doing anything important. Family gathering and regular dates count as important in this code.)

Code Red: Ladybug sightings. (Hasn't been used ever since Alya became a full time miraculous. Marinette never ‘made it on time’.)

Code Blue: Break up. (Drop whatever you are doing and go. School is less important than your friend. Family can wait. Boyfriends can too. Go.)

Code Green: Mysterious friends that sound a bit similar -extremely similar- did something stupid, annoying, frustrating, infuriating, or super nice that they have to gossip about. (It's Chat.) (It's mostly an excuse for girls night.) (Only at night after everything has been done.)

Code Brown: Period emergency. (Only if both friends are in the same building.)(If not in the same building Friend can travel to where the in-need is if the period emergency ruined whatever clothes the in-need was wearing and there's no way to cover it. If the helper is at a special event, the helper should send backup.)

Code Black: Emergency. (Includes injuries… and worse. If the in-need is unable to call for the code, family members and boyfriends have been informed of the code and MUST call for it.) (Drop everything and go.)

Code White: PROPOSAL! (Get a bottle of wine, a lot of food and The Wedding Binder because it's going to be a long two years.)(If the one who called Code White calls for it again its must-go status drops to ‘if not at a special event or exam’.) (If the other also calls for Code White while the first one's Code White is still going on, the second one changes to Code Sparkle.)(Calling for Code White while it is in the process means that the Maid of Honor is needed for wedding preparations.)

Alya loved to use these codes. She created them, why wouldn’t she love them? Mari thought they were ridiculous at first, but very quickly learned how great it was to just type or say two words and have no need to say anything more. When you’re crying you don't want to write or say a lot. Just. . .

“Code Blue.”

“New year, new us.” Mari joked.

“. . .” Alya just hung up.

Mari was getting somewhat sort of used to the fact that Chat was not talking to her. Or at least that’s what she told herself. That she was moving on. She knew she was just using sarcasm and jokes to forget the pain. Now was not the time for it.

Mari came out from underneath the desk in where she hid to answer Alya’s call, figuring that after the fifth one it had to be something important. “Family emergency!”

The professor looked like he wanted to say something but Marinette didn’t give him the time to do so before she ran. She figured that would let him understand how important it was if she wasn’t even giving him the time of day.

She loved Alya. Alya was now a priority, and it would be extremely fucked up for her to not be immediately there for her.

But Mari was at the Uni right now, blocks away from Alya’s apartment, at lunchtime. With a bike. Fast as possible will have to be an hour, because even with her hero training, Paris, at lunch, on a bike . . . it wasn’t easy.

Plus she had to make a few pits stops in between to the grocery store and her parents' bakery for sad-time snacks.

Mari barged in, looking frantic with a bunch of bags all over her. “I’m sorry I’m late!”

Alya just sat on her bed, dejectedly looking out her window.

“Oh, sweetie. You look like the main star of a sappy movie.”

Marinette dropped the bags behind them on the bed, before settling beside her, engulfing her in a hug. “Tell Chanel what happened.”

“So. . . “ Alya took a deep breath, clearly trying not to start crying. It took her a bit to calm down her tears. “He got accepted at the University he wanted to go to.”

“And this is bad how?”

“It’s in New York.”

Mari flinched, “. . . I’m guessing long distance isn’t the thing for you.”

Alya pushed away, agitated immediately, getting off the bed to pace in front of Mari. “Long distance doesn’t work. It never does. He will try and I will try but in the end, he will focus on studying and his music, I will continue with my masters in Journalism and focus on helping you, and the fact that we won’t see each other, ever! will easily create an emotional distance we won’t be able to get over. And. . . once we start talking less, that lack of communication will become more and more until one day we realize we haven’t spoken in like a month and we decide that this isn’t working out. . .”

Alya said it with such ease and anger, it was clear that that was the same argument she had told Nino.

Marinette reached her hand out to her, “So. . . you decided to end it now.”

Alya dropped to her knees in front of Mari, squeezing herself in between her legs and hugging her waist close to her face, like a child to a mother. “Why didn’t he tell me at first that he was looking for schools far away from here? Why did I JUST found out?”

Marinette petted her hair. “Boys are strange like that. They don’t all understand what we consider important information. They don’t all see when they are . . . accidentally . . . lying by omission.”

Alya hugged her tighter, slowly beginning to sob, her walls finally breaking. Ladybug had dated Chat for three years and felt broken because of their breakup. But Alya had dated Nino for seven and had already planned with Marinette how their wedding would go. This was slowly going to destroy her.

Marinette helped Alya undress from her heavy winter armor and change into warm PJs before settling her in bed and grabbing the bags. Putting away the colds into the freezer and only picking out the things they were going to eat at the moment, she settled back in bed. “Friends?”

“Season 6”

“Why?” Marinette softly giggled out, preparing Alya’s laptop for a long night of Friends.

“Cause I want to see someone else make a much bigger mistake than me.”

Alya settled her head on Mari’s lap, placing her pint of ice cream in between Mari’s legs for Mari to feed her. Mari sighed, “Just give me a week and we’ll find out which of us made the biggest mistake.”

“Marrying drunk is a huge one.” Even in her wallow, Alya tried to make Mari feel better about her soon to come OB/GYN appointment.

“Unplanned baby is bigger.”

“Well, then should we jump to season 8?”

Mari giggled, “Nah, today is all about you.”

\--

“Mari, please stop!” Alya aggressively whispered at her face, holding her leg to stop her shaking.

They were both now waiting for Mari’s appointment at the OB/GYN after realizing that for baby stuff you can’t just walk in and be like ‘Yo Doctor, check me out for a baby.’. Having to wait for almost a month to find out if the pee stick was lying was stressful. And Alya’s breakup did not help.

“Remember the breathing.”

Mari nodded, relaxing back on her chair and taking deep breaths, counting to ten in between inhales and exhales. Once she calmed down, she scooted closer to Alya. “So, my professor called me in, wanting proof of the family emergency that made me leave his class.”

“What did you do?” Alya whispered back.

“I asked momma to send me the picture of that time Papa was angry with the knife and cut his arm. The blood in that picture always freaks the professors out.”

Alya smirked, “You deviant. . . Why haven’t I seen this picture?”

“Because I keep deleting it from my phone. I don’t exactly enjoy seeing my dad like that.” Mari sassily replied.  
“... So you don’t have it?” Alya asked.

“You’re a freak. Go watch your operation videos if you want to see blood.”

Alya laughed, putting her arm around Mari and relaxing with her, “Ah, I should get checked too. Imagine. Besties pregnant with their ex’s baby.”

Mari didn’t say anything.

“Too far?”

“With all those condoms you bought? I’m just wondering what did you do to them.”

Alya rolled her eyes, “It’s a 78% chance of no baby with those. You get better results with birth control pills.”

“Huh…”

“. . . So now I know you didn’t use that!”

Alya, months later, was still slowly digging out information about Blondie and the breakup. . . and the sex. “I was a little too spent to remember that. Plus, I didn’t know where you hid them in your apartment.”

Mari waited, knowing she had given her more than enough information to calm her journalist’s ass for like a month, but enough to freak her out.

“. . .”

“. . .”

“. . .”

“You fucked on my bed?” Alya said quietly and very controlled.

“. . . I . . .I didn’t. . .” There was no way this wasn’t going to come out badly. ‘I didn’t want him to know where I live’? They dated for three years! Alya knew where Nino lived two days after they started dating.

“You were the closest.”

“Did you fuck on my bed?” Alya remained calm.

“. . . Yes.”

“Did you clean it?”

“. . . What do I have to do to make it up to you?”

Alya inhaled deeply, holding it for a long moment before calmly letting it out. “. . . I hope you’re pregnant.”

“What!?”

“I’m petty and I’m broken-hearted Mari! Whatever comes out of my mouth for the next month is worth crap! Don’t take it to heart!”

“Ms. Dupain-Cheng?”

Heart flutters.

“Come right in.”

“Deep breaths.” Whispered Alya.

Marinette nodded at Alya, taking her hand as she leads her to the room.

“Now, there’s a robe in the bathroom, take your time to put it on, and knock on the door when you’re ready.” Dr. Bernard said, leaving and closing the door behind him.

Alya turned to her smirking, “Time to get naked in a hot doctor’s office!”

“Alya, he’s sixty.”

“Wow, you’re so shallow,” Alya said, faking being offended.

Mari pushed past her, changed into the robe, and got on the bed. Alya knocked for her. “Calm down girl. He’s the best in the Gyno anywhere near us. He has never, and I mean never, ever made me feel uncomfortable. And I once got my period while his hand was inside me… He’s very professional.”

“Alright, ready for the intrusion?” He said, stretching his glove and letting it snap against his wrist, clearly trying to be comical.

Mari looked at Alya. Alya smiled, proud of his joke.

“I might be pregnant.”

Mari was having none of it.

“Babies can be a good thing.” The doctor settled on the chair, getting his materials ready while he waited for the nurse. “Sometimes they can be the right thing. The thing you need. Also . . . you could also not be pregnant. And then you’ll feel sorry for not laughing at my dumb joke.”

“I’m too nervous to play along.”

He nodded. “I understand. Christine! The lady needs to know if there’s a baby! Hurry up!”

“Now I can’t even piss?!” The nurse sounded muffled, clearly behind the closed door of a restroom.

“I can’t put my hand in her snootch without you! I don’t know where it is! I need you!”

Mari did laugh.

“There. A smile. I know this may sound annoying, but you should try to look for the silver lining in those dark clouds that are looming above you.”

“Is it that obvious?”

He smiled tenderly, “I felt a chill when I walked in the room.”

Mari sighed.

“Okay, I’m here. Sorry to have left you alone with this old weirdo. Should we get started?”

Alya nodded for Marinette, who just stared at the monitors she knew would soon be showing her empty or full uterus.

Marinette tried to keep her eyes focused on the monitor and to not react as something entered her. It bothered her for a second before the screens lighted up.

The doctor and the nurse stayed quiet as the stick went on about looking in her uterus. Both girls focused but neither knew what the hell they were looking at. Or what to look for.

“Ah. Here it is! There’s the little fella. Riiight … there.” He said, pointing at the tiny blob that Marinette now had to call her child.

Alya was close to her head as she whispered, “Oh my god… I’m so sorry. I jinxed it.”

Again, Marinette couldn’t help but laugh at Alya’s genuine guilt and belief that she jinxed her pregnancy.

“There. Happy mother, happy baby. I want you to stay like that now and until September, you got me? I don’t think I can emotionally handle another miscarriage this early in the year. Be good to your unborn baby!” You could tell he was a dad by how playful he was. You could tell he was a grandpa by how exaggerated his playfulness was. She was, nonetheless, thankful for it.

Alya and Marinette were slowly walking home when Alya finally asked the question Marinette knew had been itching at her since they found out the stick hadn’t lied.

“Are you going to keep it?”

Marinette rolled her eyes, “I made a fit because I didn’t want to drink alcohol when I wasn’t sure I was pregnant because I didn’t want to hurt the could be baby. If I didn’t want a baby I would have drank the entire bottle. . . It’s my baby. And it was made in a moment of love. It’s a love baby. And I’m going to keep it and keep loving it until it leaves me at eighteen and I … I don’t know. Find me another baby to keep me company.”

Alya sighed, a soft laugh hidden in it. “You could just get a cat.”

Marinette flinched, “Think I’ll get a dog. A pug maybe.”

Alya stared at her, wondering what the flinching was all about.

“Is there any ice cream left at yours?” Alya nodded, “Let's go, Code …. Baby? What should we do about this one? Why don’t we already have a baby code?”

“Ooooh!”

The girls made their way to Alya’s apartment, mapping out how Code Baby works.

Code Baby: Pregnancy. (If the in-need is announcing the pregnancy, only important school stuff or important family events could prevent the friend from showing up to either celebrate the baby or calm down the in-need. In important stuff though, the friend has to at least call.)(If Code Baby is already in effect and the new momma calls for it, it means to gather at the closest available time to eat the cravings away or to accompany the momma to the baby appointments.)

Once they reached Alya’s floor they stopped, noticing a blonde man waiting for them by her door.

*-*-*-*

In the dark, the room felt familiar, but once the curtains were spread open, whatever ghost was pulling at him scurried away from his grasp. And Adrien forgot all about it after Alya closed her bedroom door.

He watched as the girls pulled out food after food, clearly being very hungry.

Adrien looked down at his phone.

Feb/20

2:04pm_Nino: I fucked up.  
2:08pm_Adrien: Hey, what’s up?  
2:09pm_Nino: Code Grey.  
2:09pm_Adrien: HOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
2:15pm_Nino: … Alya didn’t like that I was going to be in New York for four years.  
2:16pm_Nino: Alya doesn’t believe in long distance.  
2:16pm_Nino: Alya called it off.  
2:17pm_Adrien: You hadn’t told her?  
2:17pm_Nino: I TOLD HER!  
2:18pm_Adrien: . . . Like… “I might go to New York,” told her?  
2:20pm_Nino: . . . no.  
2:20pm_Adrien: ah, my friend, and that’s where you have failed. Ladies don’t like to be surprised with small things like that.  
2:21pm_Adrien: Well… big things like that.  
2:24pm_Nino: I don’t want to hear what I could have done.  
2:24pm_Nino: I also don’t want to hear what I could do.  
2:26pm_Nino: I finally got a good university that will offer me a full-ride scholarship to study music. MUSIC! Just because Alya’s mad it doesn’t mean I’m not gonna take this chance to study what I love for FREE!  
2:27pm_Nino: I told her I loved her, and that it’s not like we talk every day here anyway, she got madder…  
2:28pm_Nino: I told her I love her.  
2:29pm_Nino: She told me she did too but that distance would destroy that.  
2:30pm_Nino: She told me she loves me.  
2:30pm_Nino: Hopefully that will be enough.  
2:32pm_Adrien: For what?  
2:34pm_Nino: I’m leaving. Happy or mad, I’m still leaving. And when I come back, I will get on my knees and beg for my place back next to her, with a Bachelor degree in music, a job, and a future for us.  
2:35pm_Nino: As long as she hasn’t replaced me.  
2:36pm_Adrien: :(  
2:37pm_Nino: Watch her for me. I realized that now both her and Mari are going through a rough moment. Take care of them both.  
2:38pm_Nino: And don’t make it so obvious, but do everything possible so that she either stays single or has crappier boyfriends than me.  
2:39pm_Adrien: Sir, yes Sir!  
2:40pm_Nino: Thanks. Talk to you later, I gotta go and talk to an old friend about a side job I have.

**

“Want something to drink?” Adrien looked up to see both girls staring at him from the tiny kitchen. He shrugged.

“I’ll have whatever you girls are having.” He looked at what they had pulled out of the bags, “Seems like we’re having a girls night again.”

“Again?” Chanel looked at Alya confused.

“He came the day after. . . the Music Man thing. Fucker brought expensive ice cream and now I hate life.” Alya grumbled, bringing the snacks to the living room and sitting on the floor, leaving the last spot on the couch for Chanel.

“If you want more I could just go and get it.”

“Stop spoiling me!”

Adrien laughed, “I’m being a good bestie!”

Chanel gasped, “I’m her bestie!”

“And her best man, Chanel. . . Also, you can have more than one! I have four!”

The girls looked at him as though he was bluffing, but then remembered that he still keeps the Yellow Devil in his life.

“Oh right, her,” Alya said, opening her bottle and looking off to the side, making sure he knew that neither girl was happy about her.

“She is super nice now.”

“How would you know, you used to defend her back at school.”

Adrien glared at Alya, “She cleaned up her act. I would know because I helped her with it. Now she’s a great friend. And wants to be a teacher. And help dumb kids, like myself.”

Chanel scoffed, “What did you do to be considered a dumb kid?”

Adrien looked at Chanel who was already halfway through her pint of ice cream. “Nothing as far as my emotional state tells me. But she says I’m being a childish when it comes to my decision to deal with my… ex ...”

“Do you want my honest opinion?” Asked Alya, grimacing.

He already knew what she was going to say, her face said it all, how angry she was for agreeing with Chloe, “If you agree with her, you can keep it.” He said slightly glaring.

“I’m just saying. I have far too many friends being stubborn with their exes for dumb reasons.” Alya shrugged, finally handing him a bag of crisps.

“Ok. You and Nino keep talking about other heartbroken friends, who are these friends? And why do you fault me for having more than three friends when you seem to have an army?” Adrien asked, turning to look directly at her.

Alya shrugged, “You don’t need to know, they are just friends from work. Had a nasty breakup on Christmas Eve. Won’t tell us why. It’s sad really. We all believed they were meant for each other. We used to joke that if they couldn’t make it, no one could. . . Is a little ironic now isn’t it?”

Adrien stared at her for a while, watching as she immediately built up her walls and hid her pain, and sighed before nodding, “Life makes fun of us. Mocks our sadness and pours bitter irony on our wounds.”

Chanel made a noise to agree, mouth full of ice cream.

Adrien nodded, “Anyway, what’s the reason for this girls night?”

Alya shrugged, “Well, now it’s just a sleepover, but. . .”

Alya looked at Chanel, and he followed.

“I’m definitely pregnant,” Chanel muttered.

Adrien stared silently.

For too long.

“Banana head?”

“Dude?”

He kept staring, processing the information and the implications.

“Adrien?”

“Dude.”

Some guy left Chanel pregnant. And refused to talk to her.

“Adrien, are you ok?”

“Dude!”

That guy broke up with her, made her feel like she was at fault, left her pregnant, and refused to talk to her.

“You do know you’re not the father right? You shouldn’t be freaking out this way.”

“Dude!!”

His best guy friend left his broken-hearted girlfriend in his care, and also implied to help that girlfriend with taking care of Marinette. And now she’s alone, brokenhearted and pregnant.

“TALK!”

“DUDE!”

“I’m here for you,” Adrien said with determination.

Both the girls' eyes widened, confused by his freak out and his outburst.

“Whatever you need, I’m here”

“Thanks. . . but I kinda guessed.” Chanel said.

Adrien paused.

Alya laughed, “Dude. . . you’re the kid who scraped gum off her chair and calmly took the blame, just because you needed to be nice to everyone. You’re the nice kid. That’s why no one could be angry at you for defending Chloe, because you’re the nice one. Marinette was the righteous one, didn’t care who you were if you were doing something wrong she was going to call you out. But you’re the nice one.”

“Also,” Mari interrupted, “Ignoring all of that. You . . . you are one of my best friends. It would have been pretty crappy of you to . . . disappear now.”

“You also know that Nino’s not disappearing right? He’s just going to school. He would do the same if he were still here.” Adrien added.

Chanel nodded.

“Yeah, he’s only abandoning one of us.”

Both Adrien and Chanel took a deep breath.

“Alya.” Chanel sighed

“Listen! He dreams of studying music! He’s going to do it for free! Can’t you at least be a little happy for him?”

Chanel sucked air in, shaking her head at him.

“You suck. In girls night . . . even if we were wrong, we only bring it up once and then spend the rest of the night talking shit about the other while eating.” Chanel said, taking another spoonful, preaching wisdom about girl world.

“Ok… Nino ‘borrows’ my shoes and never returns them!”

“If he did that with Alya, that would be. . . hilarious.” Chanel laughed.

“Yeah,” Alya nodded, not really laughing with them, “But anyway, this girls night is not about me. It’s about the new baby mamma.”

“Ah,” Chanel grumbled, “Right. . . How am I going to tell my parents?”

Alya and Adrien shrugged.

“Just let the baby tell them,” Alya said.

“With words,” Adrien added at the same time.

Chanel just stared at them, before finally shaking her head, “Motivational speakers, you are not. I need real advice, leave the jokes for later.”

“Did you lie to them about being single?” Adrien asked.

Chanel looked at him, before looking down.

“Well, this is going to be hard. They don’t even know you had a boyfriend.” Said Adrien, not knowing what to do now.

“Listen,” They both looked at Alya, “Your parents know you went through a breakup and they still haven’t asked who was he. They respected that-”

“Because he’s the thing of the past! It’s going to be totally different when I tell them I’m having his baby!”

“. . . True. But they respect you. And, eventually, they’ll respect that you don’t want to tell anyone who he is.” Alya continued.  
Chanel nodded.

Adrien stared at the wall, now another, much more important, question dancing around in his head.

“Will you tell the guy?”

Chanel shrugged, “If he ever talks to me.”

“You would still take him back, after abandoning you for two months?” Adrien said, surprised with her statement.

“I . . . It hasn’t been long enough time in where I can forget that I loved him, that maybe I still do. And it’s his baby too.”

“But it wouldn’t be the same.”

Chanel shrugged at him. “I don’t expect it to be. And now with a baby, it will be a million times more different than it was before. But I’m willing to try. Try and fall in love with him again, and wait for him to fall in love with me again. I know it will be worth it.”

Adrien took in what she said and wondered if he could do the same with Ladybug.

“I admire you.”

“Huh?” Chanel choked, mid spoonful.

“I don’t think . . . I can’t do that.”

“Why?” Alya asked, coming back to the conversation.

“I . . . I’m sure I loved her. But there’s a sense of betrayal that’s choking that emotion out of me. I can’t stop replaying in my head that moment and . . . She didn’t cheat, but I know it feels like that kind of betrayal. Like . . . you just can’t look at them the same.”

Both girls nodded, not knowing how to respond when both knew he had made up his mind about that. And betrayal is betrayal. It’s personal. You can’t try to change a person’s feeling about it.

“It’s ok. We are all entitled to our own decisions. Its kinda like consent. If you don’t feel right going back to her, then that’s your decision.” Chanel said, before taking a spoonful of her now melting ice cream.

“Still. . . it breaks my heart over and over again knowing she keeps trying to reach out to me. Like a constant stream of salt being poured on a wound that’s not being given a chance to heal. And a small part of me wants to give in. . .”

“She made a mistake. She should live with it.” Alya grumbled.

“Ok. No. This does not at all compare or is in the same spectrum as your little drama with Nino.”

Alya glared at Adrien, not happy that both of them at one point told her she was being irrational. She thought of them as ‘hopeless romantics with foolish beliefs of long-distance romances’.

“He still loves you.”

“If he loved me, he would stay.”

Chanel scoffed, “Girl I love you, but if . . . Gabriel or any of the Wertheimer came right now with an opportunity to live my dream of working beside them, I would drop you in a second and sing all my apologies from the plane.”

“You do know that both these companies are just an hour or less away from you. You don’t need a plane.” Adrien whispered.

“My point is! If you loved him, you would understand what a great opportunity this is. Sacrifices have to be made.” Chanel said, brushing over his statement.

“Also, why my dad?”

“What about him?” Chanel asked.

“He. . .” Adrien seemed uncomfortable, still not used to his dad being adored by designers everywhere, “why can’t you like any other company? Why does my dad have to be first in line?”

“It was one of my first,” Chanel shrugged, putting away the now empty pint of ice cream, “It has sentimental value, and as you said, it’s close.”

“I have a strong sentimental value towards that company, and it doesn't make me want to go back.” Adrien murmured.

Alya appeared confused, “Don’t you still work there?”

He shrugged, “Not exclusively. But it’s my ‘first priority’. As in, I could have twenty other gigs, but if Gabriel needs me tomorrow, I have to drop them all. Agreste legacy has to always be first in line to model the Gabriel line.”

“You don’t want to model,” said Chanel.

It wasn’t a question. It was a very good guess based on a lot of scattered complaints. And the very sharp eye of a designer.

Again he shrugged, “Who says I ever did.”

Alya gave a sad smile, “So, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t ever really given the freedom to explore my future. Legacies rarely ever are. All I know so far is that I’ll model until my mid-thirties and then start an excruciating training to become the next CEO of the company by the time I’m … fifty? Sixty? Who knows.” It all sounded rehearsed, and it was. He had heard it plenty of times, the numbers sometimes shifting. But never, ever, any room to wiggle on what he could possibly do.

Chanel seemed displeased with this, her righteousness clear on the surface. “Is there any hobby you enjoy?”

Alya’s eyes widened with excitement, “Yeah! Just look at me! My mom wanted me to be a chef, and I didn't know what I wanted to do. But then I fell in love with the Ladyblog and haven’t been able to stop since. Now I’m studying journalism! A hobby could become a profession.”

He shrugged before remembering something.

“Hey, what happened to the LadyBlog?”

“Job. School. Life. Everything got in the way, plus it’s been very hard lately to catch sight of her. I still try and do it once a month.” Alya said, shrugging, having long accepted the sacrifice that had to be made.

Chanel hid her face, seeming to feel guilty about something.

Alya gasped, “Maybe you could start the ChatBlog!”

Adrien burst out laughing, “Fuck no!”

Both girls looked baffled, “You don’t like Chat Noir?” Chanel asked.

“Oh I love the dude, he’s the best!” Both girls sightly flinched at his statement, and he couldn’t figure out why “But . . . not my thing to follow a twenty-year-old around Paris in hopes of figuring out who’s the blond underneath.”

Chanel sighed, getting up to throw away the garbage, groaning.

Adrien didn’t understand why until he saw Alya’s excited face.

“You think he’s twenty?”

He forgot how obsessed she was about her theories and the identities. He could play along.

“I think they’re all twenty.”

Chanel groaned loudly, “Don’t egg her on!”

“I mean if you look at their pictures throughout the years you can even tell when they all hit puberty.”

“Why do I even bother?” Chanel whined, opening a second pint.

\--

Feb/27

9:32pm_Ladybug: Please talk to me.  
9:38pm_ChatNoir: I can’t.

March/1

3:45am_Ladybug: We really need to talk.  
3:52am_Ladybug: In person.  
6:02am_ChatNoir: I’d rather not go to jail for domestic violence. Your face is too pretty for that.  
9:22pm_Ladybug: Chat, please.  
9:30pm_ChatNoir: No.

March/3

Ladybug:

7:02am_Ladybug: Chat  
8:10am_ChatNoir: Please. No.

Bee:

8:54am_Bee: Just talk to her.  
8:58am_ChatNoir: Did she complain to you?  
9:00am_Bee: I’ve talked with her.  
9:01am_Bee: I found her crying.  
9:01am_Bee: You need to talk to her.  
9:02am_Bee: She really needs you.  
9:03am_ChatNoir: I thought you respected my decision.  
9:04am_Bee: I respect you. But I still believe your decision is stupid. You are being immature, and that’s coming from me.  
9:05am_ChatNoir: I don’t need this. I’ve had enough. If she couldn’t trust me with her damn face after 3 years of dating and 7 of knowing each other and trusting each other, then.  
9:06am_ChatNoir: She made her bed, tell her to sleep in it.  
9:08am_Bee: Master said we couldn’t reveal our identities to each other!!!!11!1!!  
9:09am_ChatNoir: And yet we know who we are. And yet, she knows who Rena and Carapace are.  
9:10am_Bee: YOU GAVE ME MY MIRACULOUS. OF COURSE, YOU KNOW WHO I AM! And the same goes for Lady!!!  
9:11am_ChatNoir: You trusted me.  
9:12am_Bee: . . . You are being stupid and immature.  
9:13am_ChatNoir: I know. I’m done.

March/7

7:45pm_ChatNoir: Bee and Rena keep asking me to tell you to take a break. That if you’re tired you should not be forcing yourself.  
7:47pm_ChatNoir: Listen to your friends when they are worried about you.  
7:50pm_Ladybug: I’m fine. I just need you to talk to me. [read 7:51pm]

March/12

5:42pm_Ladybug: Why did you run away?  
5:45pm_ChatNoir: Because I knew you were going to try and talk to me. And I don’t want to. I did my part and helped with the Akuma.  
5:46pm_Ladybug: We. Need. To. Talk.  
5:48pm_ChatNoir: While we are talking, the others are right. You don’t look good, you should take a break.  
5:48pm_Ladybug: About. US.  
5:50pm_ChatNoir: I don’t ever want to talk about us. Ever again.  
5:51pm_ChatNoir: We tried. It didn’t work out. Get with it.  
5:51pm_Ladybug: Chat.  
5:53pm_ChatNoir: No. You had your chances. Not all stories end with happy endings. Though I hope you find yours.  
5:54pm_ChatNoir: Let’s just stay as we were. We are hero partners doing our best to keep Paris safe. That should be good enough for both of us.  
5:55pm_Ladybug: You can’t truly believe that.  
5:55pm_ChatNoir: Friends and nothing more.  
5:56pm_Ladybug: Chat, please.  
5:57pm_ChatNoir: Friends. And. Nothing. More.  
5:57pm_Ladybug: I’m sorry.

To Everyone:

6:00pm_Ladybug: Alright. I’ll take that break. I don’t know when I’ll come back. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.  
6:02pm_Bee: O.O What?  
6:02pm_Foxy: You don’t. . . know? When you’ll come back?  
6:02pm_Turtle: We. . . we kinda need you? We. . . we meant like a week vacation.  
6:03pm_ChatNoir: Take care.

Bee/Turtle/Foxy

6:05pm_Bee: ADR  
6:05pm_Turtle: WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?  
6:05pm_Foxy: TAKE FUCKING CARE?  
6:05pm_Bee: CHAT WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO NOW?  
6:06pm_ChatNoir: You guys asked me to tell her to take a break, and now you’re complaining?  
6:07pm_Turtle: Not an indefinite break!!!!!!  
6:07pm_Turtle: We meant like a short vacation to get rid of those bags under her eyes and to exercise a bit and do some yoga. Not like … FUCK  
6:08pm_Turtle: HawkMoth is back!  
6:08pm_Bee: I asked you to kindly talk to her and get it all out. Not make it worse!  
6:08pm_Tutle: If we fuck up during an akuma only she can save us.  
6:09pm_Foxy: What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Say. To. Her.  
6:11pm_ChatNoir: . . .That you guys wanted her to take a break.  
6:12pm_Foxy: And?  
6:12pm_Turtle: And?  
6:12pm_Bee: AND?  
6:14pm_ChatNoir: That I wanted to be friends and nothing more.  
6:15pm_Foxy: Oh, you heartless bastard.  
6:15pm_Bee: Do you not know anything about girls?!!!  
6:16pm_Turtle: . . . That seemed nice.  
6:17pm_Bee: NOTHING MORE?  
6:17pm_Foxy: NOTHING MORE!!!1!1?  
6:18pm_Turtle: Okay, that part was a little cold.  
6:19pm_Bee: A LITTLE?  
6:19pm_Foxy: Fucking boys.  
6:20pm_Turtle: . . .  
6:21pm_ChatNoir: Sorry.  
6:22pm_Turtle: I. . . I don’t mean to add gas to the burning fire that is this group right now...  
6:22pm_Turtle: But I’m kinda leaving.  
6:24pm_Foxy: ...  
6:25pm_Bee: I. . . I can’t anymore.  
6:26pm_Bee: You are telling me you are leaving us alone with chat?  
6:26pm_ChatNoir left.

Bee:

6:30pm_Bee: I AINT DONE WITH YOU!  
6:30pm_Bee: TELL ME WORD BY WORD WHAT YOU SAID!  
6:35pm_ChatNoir sent an image: Screenshot_34.jpg  
6:35pm_ChatNoir sent an image: Screenshot_35.jpg  
6:37pm_Bee: oh my god. . . I don’t even know how to start.  
6:38pm_Bee: . . .You got your point across. . .  
6:39pm_Bee: Couldn’t you have . . . I don’t know. Stabbed her slowly? Warned her before you shot her? Let her down gently?  
6:39pm_Bee: You basically hacked her with a rusty machete and told her to deal with it.  
6:40pm_Bee: You want to be handle gently but you can’t give what you ask for.  
6:41pm_ChatNoir: -_- Is it really a mystery to you why I’m so tactless?  
6:42pm_Bee: Gabriel fucked you up so bad. . .  
6:42pm_ChatNoir: WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY OUR NAMES IN HERE!!!  
6:43pm_Bee: That’s not your name.  
6:44pm_ChatNoir: Do you really think no one will make the connection?  
6:44pm_Bee: Hush. You sliced open a girl’s heart tonight.  
6:45pm_ChatNoir: How about what she did to me?  
6:45pm_Bee: I agree with half of it baby. But you handled the situation terribly.  
6:46pm_ChatNoir: Whatever. Go spend time with your new best friend.  
6:46pm_ChatNoir left.

**

He didn’t want to hear any more.

Maybe he did cross some line, but he meant it. He didn’t want to get back with her.

And now they sided with her.

He wasn’t going to lie and say that didn’t hurt.

He went home.

\--

He watched on the tv as another Akuma attack happened and Ladybug nor he was in it. He worried.

He knew that both of them not being there had to be stressful for the trio.

But Hawk Moth wanted their miraculous, and neither of them was anywhere to be found… that should be good.

\--

March/26

“You are a royal ass, you know that right?”

He shrugged as Chloe sat next to him on the couch, passing him some leftovers from the night prior.

“It would be so much easier if you helped. She’s not coming, she said it,” whined Chloe.

Adrien stopped eating and stared at her, knowing there was a lie hidden in there. “Then how is the Akuma getting cleansed and Paris getting restored? I recall two days ago the Eiffel tower exploding.”

“Yeah, they all do have a thing for that damn tower,” Chloe muttered, putting down her plate of Thai take out and turning to look at him, “I’m helping her. Since one of us is refusing to.”

He scoffed, “That ‘one of us’ insult only works if you don’t start it by putting out that for sure ‘one of us’ isn’t you.”

She glared.

He rolled his eyes, knowing she was waiting for him to ask her how, she loved that kind of attention, “How?” He asked, more dramatic than he should.

“I talked with her about the entire. . . dilemma, and she. . .” She looked scared, caught between deciding to tell a sweet lie or the cruel truth.

Adrien sighed and shook his head, “Just tell me.”

“What you said made her back off. . . and sort of . . . give up.”

Adrien’s breath got caught in his throat as he processed what she said. Lady wasn’t backing off for some time while he took an emotional breather, she was backing off indefinitely with their relationship. ‘Friends and nothing more.’ He really needed to learn how to phrase himself. He leaned back on the sofa and nodded, “Go on.”

“She has her reasons.”

Adrien scoffed, feeling himself become irrational and petty, “Really?” He mocked.

“. . .”

Adrien saw real struggle in Chloe’s eyes, as she bit her lips, clearly having an inner argument on whether or not to tell him why.

“Rip off the fucking band-aid Chloe. Rip. It. Off.”

“She’s pregnant.”

“Put it. Back. On.”

“Adrien!”

“What!?” He exclaimed, getting up and pacing around his living room, rubbing his face as though that would make this reality fade away or clear up.

“I don’t know who the father is.” She said softly, watching carefully for any signs of. . . anything. Adrien’s reaction to things lately was like a game of roulette, who knew where the dice would end in.

Adrien choked on a few words before stuttering, “Uh, d-d-d-did she t-tell you about-t-“

“Yes. She told me why you broke up. And so did you.” She didn’t blame him for forgetting, the thunderstorm that was his emotions and thoughts were obvious on his face.

“So that means-“

“She said. . .” She waited for him to pay attention to her, not wanting to repeat herself, “She doesn’t know who the father is.” Chloe said slowly, like talking to a child.  
“. . . what. . .”

Chloe shrugged, “Girls tend to lose themselves when sad. We tend to do things we don’t usually do, just to forget. You broke her, and . . . she looked for solace somewhere else.”

Adrien slowly sank to the ground across from her, breathing slowly.

He closed his eyes, feeling those angry tears come to break him, refusing to break over what he inevitably caused. He pushed her away. He had to admit that part of this was his fault.

Finally, he nodded and whispered, “And that’s why she’s taking a break. She can’t fight pregnant.”

Chloe nodded, “She’s not showing yet, she just looks like she ate too much. She’s keeping herself hidden. She doesn’t want anyone else to know. I’m not even sure if she’s fine with you knowing. When the fight is over I capture the akumas and take them to her, she cleanses them and cleans up Paris, and then she goes home. I don’t know who she is still. The last thing I know is that. . .” She bit her lip as she tried to remember the last bit of information she wanted to share, “Right, uh, her kwami is pissed about her getting in the suit at all. Her kwami is arguing that she shouldn’t in the state that she’s in, and that if the akumas continue, she might have to give her miraculous to someone able to fight.”

Adrien sighed, falling back, and laying down on the carpet, “Do you believe that Hawk Moth will back off if neither Ladybug nor Chat show their faces?”

She blinked and sighed, “Is that what you’re doing?”

He nodded.

“What makes you think that?”

“He only wants our miraculous, for whatever reason. It’s always ‘Chat Noir and Ladybug’s miraculous’. It’s never ‘all of their miraculous’. Just Chat and Lady. So if we don’t fight. . . if we, per se, ‘retire’ . . . he’s forced to retire as well. A hunter can’t hunt if there’s no prey.”

“Pray you’re right, you dumbass.”

\--

He was right.

After two weeks of them not fighting, Hawk Moth went back into another vacation.

Chloe appeared to be telling the truth about her deal with Ladybug, as the complaints from Rena and Carapace about him not showing up slowed to a halt as peace was regained in Paris.

“Adrien?”

He looked up from his phone and gave a bitter smile.

“Glad you could separate some time from your ‘busy’ schedule to yell at your son.”

“In.” Gabriel wasted no time with words.

Adrien sighed, following his father into his office. “I was going through a rough time. They wouldn’t have wanted me there modeling for them anyway!”

His father dropped unto his chair, scoffing. “I go through rough times myself at least once a year and you don’t see me take a break.”

“That’s because your heart is dead.” Muffled Adrien.

“Say it louder boy. If you’re going to disrespect me, do it like a man.”

Adrien just looked away.

“What is it?”

He looked at his dad, wondering where the question came from, and what it meant.

“What is what?”

“Your friends actually called me! Worried about you.”

Adrien shook his head, “Sorry. Forgot to tell them you were out of the country.”

“That’s not the point. What happened?” Gabriel sounded tired.

“. . . Girl problems.”

Gabriel just nodded. “Is it solved?”

Adrien shrugged, “In a way yes. Emotionally no. I still want to punch a wall.”

“Well don’t. We can’t afford for you to break any part of you. Gustave managed to talk to the companies and saved your gigs. You should be back on track in a week.”

“Do I have to?” Adrien whispered like a child scared but also aware that his request was stupid.

Gabriel paused.

“. . . Do you have to? Adrien, you’re a model!”

“I don’t want to be a model.” Even he heard how much like a child he sounded like.

“Alright.” Gabriel sat back on his chair, folding his arms, looking slightly amused, “What DO you want to do?”

Adrien had no answer.

“You have no plan. No clue. Nothing. All you can do is look pretty.”

“That’s because you made me this way.”

Gabriel nodded, “That may be so, but until you can figure something out and give me a well formulated plan on what you want to do with the rest of your life, you. Are. Modeling. Now go. You have a gig at three.”

Adrien nodded, walking out, feeling a bit stupider and a lot more worthless than he did before going in.

What was he going to do?

Adrien walked into Alya’s apartment later that night to find both girls enjoying a box of cookies and two bottles of water. 

He scoffed, “Should I call for take-out or are we going for diabetes?”

“CHINESE!” Chanel yelled without a second to spare. Her cravings were coming in nicely.

After ordering he sat down with them, “Couldn’t wait for me could ya?”

“You took so long! I needed to know who Rachel’s baby daddy was!” Chanel whined.

“You’ve seen this show a million times. I’m the one who hasn’t and is now seeing spoilers.”

Immediately Alya paused it.

“. . . Well, eventually she gets pregnant.”

Adrien shook his head, “Just go back to season three.”

He has spent so much time with them that he now basically spent most of his time in either Chanel or Alya’s apartment. He was always in charge of food.

He looked down at both girls somehow cuddled up to him.

It wasn’t bad at all.

\--

24/April

Alya and he both paused amid their battle for the last pizza slice when hearing Chanel’s grunt of frustration.

“What’s up boo?” Alya yelled.

“My pants are tight!”

Alya burst out laughing. “It’s starting! The battle between the baby and Mari’s clothes! Who will win? We all know!”

“Ugh!” Chanel whined, sitting next to them on the floor in only a long-sleeve shirt, her undies and socks.

She was beginning to show.

“You’re a designer. You’re supposed to thrive on these kinds of problems.” Adrien said, confused at her complaint, seeing a great opportunity to design maternity clothes.

She glared at him, taking the slice. “Doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”

“Girl, you are beginning to show, and you can’t no longer pass it off as grad-weight-gain. Your parents are going to ask questions.”

“Next month.”

Adrien scoffed, “I don’t think they are going to be happy to find out they are going to be grandparents when you are already five months pregnant… You should tell them now.”

She ignored them.

\--

26/May

“Hey Rachel, remember that whole ‘we were on a break’ thing? Yeah well, I’m sorry. Will you marry me?” Ross laughed before noticing no one was laughing with him and that he went too far on the joke.

“Hahaha, what a dumbass.”

Adrien and Chanel were both a mess on the couch, surrounded by candy wrappers as they waited for Alya to come back with the food. They were slouched, half of their bodies almost off the couch, both in their sweats.

“Yeah.” Chanel softly laughed, the pregnancy making her more tired than usual.

She was four months away from giving birth and was going to the OB/GYN tomorrow to find out the gender of the baby.

Adrien held on to her as she cuddled up to him, finally falling asleep as he continued on with the next episode. She recently came to the realization that she would give birth when classes went back into session and that there was no way she was going to be able to handle both, so she talked to the school about taking this semester off. It broke her heart to do it, but now her baby was her priority.

“So, that’s it. I’m in love with Monica and I’ll be moving-”

Adrien paused the episode when he felt something kick him. He looked down to notice Cha- Mari was suddenly awake as well, eyes wide.

“Was that the baby?”

“I can’t bend down but yeah, I kicked you on the chest.”

Adrien ignored her, sitting up to put his hands on her belly.

It took a few minutes before the baby kicked again. They both gasped.

“Holy shit! There’s a tiny human inside of you!”

Mari laughed, nodding in the bliss of the moment.

They both stayed put, feeling the tiny child kick for a few minutes before it kicked at Mari’s bladder, forcing her to rush to the bathroom.

Adrien stayed seated, smiling in the bliss of that small moment between them before realizing what it meant.

What it was beginning to mean.

How personal that joy felt.

He watched her come back, slowly, handling her new weight, still happy about feeling her baby moving and kicking inside of her.

He became aware that he was smiling too.

Fuck.

\--

June/8

TheBlondeDuo:

1:03pm_Chloe: You like Marinette?  
1:03pm_Chloe: Like…  
1:04pm_Chloe: It’s has barely been a few months since the lady thing.  
1:06pm_Adrien: You don’t like Mari?  
1:07pm_Chloe: No she’s fine. I’m happy you’re with her. I support it 100%.  
1:08pm_Chloe: But. . . It has only been . . .5? Months?  
1:08pm_Adrien: It feels right.  
1:09pm_Adrien: I never thought this could be a real feeling, but I can actually feel the healing.  
1:09pm_Chloe: No Adrien, that’s called actually eating real carbs and real sugar for the first time.  
1:10pm_Adrien: Nah. That was orgasmic.  
1:10pm_Chloe: Ew.  
1:10pm_Adrien: :3  
1:11pm_Chloe: I never realized how dumb you were with that emoji.  
1:12pm_Chloe: Are you gonna tell your dad you quit modeling?  
1:12pm_Adrien: On it. Waiting for him  
1:14pm_Chloe: And about the Mari thing. . .  
1:15pm_Adrien: :3?  
1:15pm_Chloe: . . . She needs a real man. Don’t be an asshole again.  
1:19pm_Adrien: :) You are an amazing friend Chloe. I won’t. I promise. :3  
1:20pm_Chloe: g2g. Class.

Beaty&TheBeat:

1:22pm_Nino: What do you mean you think you have feelings for Mari? Now?  
1:23pm_Adrien: It means exactly that.  
1:25pm_Nino: You are insane!  
1:26pm_Nino: This is the weirdest way to move on!  
1:27pm_Adrien: People keep saying that. . .  
1:29pm_Nino: . . . You need to be careful.  
1:30pm_Adrien: I know.

**

Adrien looked up to see his father on his way to the elevator, “DAD!”

Gabriel held the elevator for him, before pressing the button for the parking.

“Don’t you have a gig at noon?” Gabriel said, not looking at him.

“Ah… I can’t. I have a baby shower at noon.”

Gabriel looked surprised by this. He thought he knew all of Adrien’s friend, and he couldn’t understand how any of them could be with child.

“Is it anyone I know?” Gabriel asked.

“What does it matter? It’s not like you go to any of our relatives family events.”

“Adrien,” Gabriel said with a warning tone.

Adrien sighed, “It’s Marinette.”

Gabriel nodded, still confused. “The designer?”

“Yup. Some prick left her pregnant. Refuses to talk to her.”

Adrien was obviously angry about this. Anyone could tell.

But Gabriel could see beyond that.

“So, now you’re taking care of her.”

“That’s what friends do, father.” Adrien sounded exasperated.

“I don’t think that’s what you want to be.”

Adrien sighed, hating being spotted so quickly. “Anyway, I came because I know what I want to do.”

“Be a father to someone else’s kid?”

“Dad.”

“Does your plan involve her?”

Adrien paused. “. . . In a way. She’ll need help.”

Gabriel nodded, appreciating his honesty. “What is it?”

“I want to be a part of the company. Now. Skip the modeling. Make me a businessman.”

Gabriel sighed. “You literally plan to take care of her.”

Adrien shook his head, “About that, I was hoping you could consider giving an early internship option for her. You’ve seen her work. You like it. What do you’ve got to lose?”

“She’s with child. . . Maternity leave.”

“Not now! It will just spontaneously show up five months from now and I will force her to go to the interview.”

Gabriel looked up, seeing they were close to the parking, “How far do you plan to go with this girl?”

The elevator binged, opening the doors, “If she’ll let me? Far.”

Gabriel nodded and walked out.

\--

June/9

Adrien groaned, his back groaning with him, as he got off the sofa that had served as his bed last night.

Seeing as he had stayed late at the Dupain-Cheng home to help them clean up the mess from the baby shower --including but not limited to a lot of pink colored powder and paint that was excitedly thrown around at the announcement that Mari was carrying a girl—Adrien slept over at the Dupain-Cheng home.

Sabine had offered him the spare bedroom that was supposed to be for one of the grandmothers, but Sabine’s mother had been unable to come, and Tom’s mother left quickly after, so it was given to him, and he had full intentions of using it, but then he fell asleep on the couch after having finished mopping the floor.

Sabine had told him they were gonna clean in the morning, but something about the mess irked him and he just couldn’t let it go.

Now it was morning, he slept maybe three hours, on a couch clearly not made for sleeping, and was being loudly disturbed by his phone’s alarm, reminding him that on any other day this would be the hour he would be getting up to go and do a quick jog before eating a small breakfast and getting ready for another boring day of modeling.

“Momma told you to sleep in the spare room.”

He turned around to find the source of the whisper, only to find a tired-looking Mari leaning against the kitchen counter with a glass of something in her hands.

Adrien couldn’t help but notice how adorable she looked in her once-upon-a-time signature pigtails -now ponytails-, pink pajama bottoms, fluffy rabbit slippers and one of her father’s shirts, seeing as none of her shirts fit her anymore and she hadn’t been prepared to stay over at her mother’s house. The shirt ate her alive and made her look much smaller than she was, and emotionally Adrien couldn’t handle it.

“Yup. . .” He looked around, trying to distract himself, “I-I I couldn’t-t, I. . . The mess was d-driving me insane.”

Was he stuttering?

. . .

Oh wow, had the tables flipped!

Adrien shook his head, shocked at this new turn of events and how strange it was.

“I guess some toilet paper strewn about could drive someone mad. Your mansion was all white and clean, and growing up around that could make you anal about tidiness. But you could have just gone to the room and not seen it all, much less have to sleep in it.”

Adrien sighed and aggressively whispered to himself in a sort of pep talk, “She looked at you while you talked, even when she was in her stumbling stuttering phase.”   
He turned around to find her staring at him, looking confused with her head tilted.

She stared for a minute before shaking her head and taking a sip, “Did you know pregnancy enhances a woman’s senses?”

Adrien nodded, feeling she was driving at something he was scared to talk about.

“Someone ate fish last night, and it was driving me insane. It smelled so bad.” She scrunched her face, remembering a smell only she had perceived.

“Uhu. . .”

“. . .” She smiled softly, “I was not a stumbling stuttering mess.”

“And pregnancy doesn’t enhance your hearing.”

She shrugged, a small smirk making way on her face, her light freckles shining bright with the morning sun, “Yeah, but it’s early in the morning, no one’s awake, and the silence is deafening. I can hear the neighbors turning on their shower.” 

He took a deep breath, hearing what she meant, and shook his head with a long deep sigh. “I didn’t say you were a mess.”

“No, you didn’t.” She agreed, nodding, and doing nothing else.

He shrugged and moved towards the kitchen, his throat feeling very dry out of nowhere.  
She burst out laughing, quietly seeing as they were the only ones awake in the house, “Am I really the confident one now? I know they say karma’s a bitch, but this is some strange karma!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He reached for one of the water bottles that had been leftover from the baby shower, avoiding looking at her.

“Adrien! I spent like. . . Five years in that position. I know how it looks like, I know how it feels. I can tell when someone’s pinning for someone from a mile away!” She said, still sorta laughing.

He sighed and turned to look at her.

“Or maybe it’s my motherly instincts kicking in.” She said rubbing her belly.

He sighed raising his hands in slight frustration before slapping them against his sides, “Unless you’ve got a nice answer to give to this dilemma, you’re really taking a dig at our friendship by pointing this out, Mari!”

She shrugged, setting down her glass, and leaning her back against the counter, “You tell me.”

“. . .Tell you what?”

She shrugged once again, “I don’t know. I guess fourteen-year-old me just really wants to hear you say it.” Her smile was a mix between a smirk and the shy smile he had become familiar with through their youth.

It took him a few seconds to understand what she was asking him, at which point he shook his head and smiled at the quirky little smartass he had right in front of him. He could understand how wanting to hear him ask her out would be more satisfying than asking him out. It would be like . . . fulfilling a teenage dream. Like that moment Ladybug agreed to go out with him. . .

Mari deserves this.

Adding the extra drama to it, he grabbed her right hand with both of his, and got down on one knee in front of her, smiling like an idiot, feeling a bit like one, loving it all the same.

He would do this a million times if he got to see the beautiful, bright, giddy smile that took over her face, making her look as youthful, happy and in love as she did six years ago.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you do this old blind idiot the honors of going on so many ridiculous dates with him, one right after the other, until he’s so in love with you that he grabs your left hand instead?”

She used her left hand to cover her smile as she giggled, nodding, “You’re so stupid.”

He shrugged, a big smile on his face, “You’re blushing. You like it.”

She shook her head, still red as a tomato, and pulled him in for a kiss that stole his breath away.

 

She pulled away and looked up at him, still holding him with her left hand on his cheek, her smile saying much more than words ever could, but still. . .

“I do.”

\--

July/27

Adrien couldn’t believe how easy it had been to fall into a perfect rhythm with Mari, and the baby -appointments- and his new job. It all seemed to settle into place.

Like all the puzzle pieces were finally found and put into place.

And now here he was, new apartment, new job, new girlfriend, painting a baby room soft yellow while she single-handedly built every furniture without his help.

Alya was helping organize the closet, stacking boxes of diapers and hanging away baby clothes that could be hanged.

“Elizabeth?”

“No.”

Alya groaned.

“How ‘bout your mother’s name?”

“Uh-uh.”

Adrien sighed, going back to painting.

They had spent that past week trying to choose a name for Mari’s baby girl.

Mari was very picky about it.

Adrien and Alya were taking turns, trying to see who would stick.

“Angel?”

“Nope.”

“Emilie?”

“No.”

“ALYA?!”

“Ugh.”

“Rain?”

Mari sighed.

“Trix?”

Mari flinched.

“Lily?”

Mari paused.

“Maybe.”

Alya immediately grabbed a notebook and wrote the name down on the maybe pile.

“Alright, so far we have Emma, Sophia, Mia, Amelia, Charlotte, and Lily.”

Adrien came down from the ladder, wiping his hand on an old pair of sweats. “You gotta pick one soon. You have maybe a month left.”

“I like Charlotte. But I also like Lily.”

“How ‘bout Charlotte Lily? You don’t have to pick one.”

Mari paused, holding a half-built crib before it fell on her, “. . . Charlotte Lilith?”

She looked at Adrien for approval. He didn’t know when had this started, but she refused to buy paint for the room until he agreed. He felt a bit guilty, having made the decision to love this child as his own, but also recognizing that it was not his and that her father was somewhere out there, missing out on these big decisions, “It’s your baby, Mari. If you feel it’s right, use it.”

Mari opened her mouth for a minute, before deciding to close it and nodded. “Charlotte Lilith.”

“Great.” Said Alya aggressively closing the notebook, “And I collaborated nothing! What a great godmother I am!”

“You planned the baby shower.” Mari pointed out.

“You take her to Lamaze classes.” Said Adrien, feeling a bit of guilt at not being able to go with Mari.

“You took me to buy all the baby furniture!” Added Mari.

“You bought all the books on babies.” Added Adrien, remembering the pile of books they were still trying to get through.

“Ah, I accidentally fished for compliments. Thanks though. Glad to see I helped in some way.”

Alya walked out, chin in the air, looking for another box of baby shower gifts.

“Crazy godmother, that’s what she is.” Adrien murmured before sitting down by the walls to paint the bottom edges.

\--

Aug/23

Adrien watched quietly from the living room as Chloe helped Alya and Mari decorate Charlotte’s room, mumbling things about redecorating the living room and the bedroom and what are the best yoga classes for pregnant women.

He couldn’t understand where the unlikely friendship had spurred from, much less the fact that Alya was the late-comer to it and that Chloe and Mari had formed some sort of secret friendship on their own behind everyone’s back.

“Adrien, could you bring over the tape measure and your tall ass over here? It would be better if we could use your height advantage instead of a ladder.”

He sighed and stuck his tongue out at Chloe, going off to look for the tape measurer.

Chloe scoffed, “I don’t know why you’re complaining. We have left you to sit there and gawk for the past hour!”

“I’m not complaining.” He wasn’t. He was just confused.

Having helped the girls set up all the nails for the future picture frames and a set of light-blocking curtain, he sat with them on the dining table, quietly paying attention as they gossiped.

“Yeah, but it’s not like he’s coming back any time soon. He’s gone for sure and not coming back for another four years. And he’s gonna find a big surprise when he comes back and finds that I ain't no dumb bitch waiting around for him like a damsel in distress.”

Chloe scoffed, “You’re definitely in some kind of stress.”

“Want to say something to me, Chloe?” Alya said, aggressively setting down her bottled water.

“Just that you need to rub one off or get laid. You’re too wound up!” Chloe said giggling.

Alya stared, eyes wide, at the suggestion.

“What? You were just saying you weren’t going to wait for him and now you don’t want to go out and get some dick? Pick a side girl.”

Mari calmed down from her shock and shook her head, smiling.

“Is not that I don’t want to. . . get dick, per se, is that I’m . . . not loose like that. It has to have meaning.” Alya started aggressive and defensive only to end shy and quiet.

And he could understand. Out of all of them, he always pictured Alya to be a ‘gets what she wants when she wants it because she has the willpower for it’ kind of girl. Not a ‘when the time is right and if the moon and stars have been aligned’.

Mari scoffed, “Don’t bluff girl! You just haven’t slept with anyone else ever and are scared of it. Nino was your one and only and you had planned for that to remain that way, and now that plans changed out of nowhere you don’t know where to go from here. Just let Chloe take you out.”

Chloe giggled behind her glass of tea before shaking her head, “I don’t go out to bars and clubs. I’m basically getting my needs met by FWBs and Uni friends.” She leaned forward and looked around as though she was about to drop national secrets and whispered, “If you’re able to get past the awkwardness of them being old friends, Kim and Alix are always up to make you forget all your woes.”

“What?”

All the girls looked at him as he finally joined the conversation.

“Aren’t Kim and Max together?”

Chloe shrugged at Adrien, “It’s an open relationship and Kim considers it a service to his friends. And Max understands seeing as that’s how they got together. A helping hand that never stopped helping.”

Adrien shook his head, baffled by this new information, give it to Chloe to be that gossip of the group, “I thought Kim was gay like Max.”

“Bi. And Alix is a lesbian. And a hell of a good one.” Her smirk said everything that needed to be said.

“. . . You did both of them?” Alya asked, looking amazed.

“It felt more like they did me. They’re good at what they do. So trust me, if you need to forget someone, they can help.”

“Wait,” Mari looked confused before asking Chloe, “So what are you?”

“Convenient.” Chloe said, short and quick with a smirk.

“Bisexual?” He asked, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Chloe seemed to have known this for a long time, but he was only finding out now. And they told each other everything.

“Convenient. Whatever comes is what I’ll take. I’m not looking for love right now. So, if Alix is who I see, I’ll let that woman take me to the moon and back. If Kim is who I see, I’ll let him ride me like a horse. If I see both, I’ll celebrate. If I see none, my battery friends will do. Doesn’t matter what you’re packing, I’m taking it. Whatever is convenient for me at the moment. Convenient.”

“That’s a fun way of saying bisexual,” Alya added, taking back her bottle.

“I don’t like the word, bisexual. They feel like they only do the predetermined genders and I’m not tied down to the ‘born this way’ kind of people. I’m still game for those with no genders, all genders, changed genders… Whatever. Is. Convenient. For my release.”

“. . . We’re still talking about people, right? Bestiality is not on your list?”

“I’ll kill you, Adrien.”

Adrien laughed, knowing he had pushed the right buttons.

“So. . .” Alya looked slightly confused and more nervous, “Per se. . . you could solve my problem?”

Chloe shrugged, “Is it convenient for me?”

Alya now looked greatly confused, trying to figure out an equation without numbers.

Chloe giggled and pulled out her phone, “It isn’t. We’re still testing out a friendship ground, so chill. Here,” She paused looking in her contact list, “Alix and Kim’s numbers. They respond within the hour and only work after seven so, good luck sweetie. And cancel whatever you had to do tomorrow because you won’t be able to walk.”

“Man!” Adrien muttered, grabbing his coffee, “I want to fuck them now.”

“You have a reserved ride, Adrien. Wait for the grand opening!” Alya muttered, ignoring the blush on Mari’s face.

Chloe and Alya laughed as Mari got up, muttering about her friends embarrassing her, to go get more orange juice. Charlotte seemed to really like orange juice.

Adrien shook his head and said softly, “Now I miss Nino.”

Alya only scoffed and said one word, “Why?”

He knew she meant ‘why are you bringing this up after we moved from the subject?’ but he ignored it and answered the literal question.

“Because with him I wouldn’t be having this kind of girl talks.”

“Hush Adrien. You love girl talk and girls night.” Alya said, mimicking Chloe’s smirk.

“I love you girls. And I do love Girls night. Not so sure about girl talk.”

Adrien looked up to see Mari holding on tight to the fridge as she breathed slowly and heavily.

“You ok?”

She nodded, “Those. . . thingies.” She closed her eyes as she focused on breathing the pain away.

Adrien nodded, getting up to help her with her juice. Those practice contractions were not being kind to Mari.

\--

Sept/5

Mari sat on the passenger seat, taking deep breaths and refusing to talk.

He wasn’t going to force her.

“We’re almost there. As soon as this fucker gets out of the way, we’ll be there in a minute.”

She barely nodded, breathing through the pain.

When they finally arrived at the hospital, Mari refused to even open her eyes, having mentioned a while ago that the pain was even making her nauseous.

After getting help from the nurses and putting her in a private room, one of the nurses took the time to explain that sometimes the pain can be so unbearable that it can make the mothers very sensitive to outside influences, like noise and light.

Mari only tolerated the pain for two hours before asking for ‘the drugs’.

Her parents arrived soon after the injection.

“. . . Papa…. What’s the giant bear for?”

“For the baby to cuddle in,” Tom said, looking far too excited about this, holding a bear half his size.

Mari sighed, leaning back and closing her eyes.

Adrien worried, “I thought the injection would numb the pain. Should I call for-”

“It... does… in a way. It just now feels like a tight pressure inside me. It’s still uncomfortable.” She murmured, holding him in his place.

“How many centimeters you got left?” Sabine asked, settling on the other chair, brushing her daughter’s hair from her face.

“. . . Nine.”

Both Sabine and Tom flinched.

Tom looked at Sabine, sucking in air, “Well…. I’m going to go get us dinner. This is going to take a while. Adrien?”

“Papa don’t!”

“Hush sweetie-pie, focus on stretching yourself while we get your mother some food,” Tom said softly, pulling Adrien away.

They could both hear Mari groaning as they walked away from the room.

They stayed silent for a few minutes before Tom couldn’t hold on any longer.

He took a deep breath to talk, Adrien already nodding. “Yes, sir?”

“I should have asked this the day after the baby shower, but what are your intentions with my daughter?”

“A healthy relationship based on trust and mutual love.”

Tom just stared at him, not knowing what to say to the confident response, never having prepared himself to do ‘the boyfriend talk’.

“. . . Uh. . . Ok then. . . Good luck with that. . . Well wishes to you both. . .”

Adrien laughed softly, “Don’t worry sir, I plan to take good care of your daughter. I would never hurt her. . . Alya scares me. And my friend Chloe seems to have taken a protective stance on Mari.”

Tom burst out laughing, “Ah yes. There are the girls. . . Wait, did you call them?”

. . . Ah, the sense of impending doom.

“You… you guys… seemed like…. The prio-”

“I’ll call Alya.” Tom interrupted him, motioning for him to go ahead.

Oh, was he not prepared to what the fireball would do once she arrived. And to make it worse, she was most likely coming with the stinging bee.

It was now five hours later, and now everyone was on edge.

She had finally gone into labor. Her mother went in with her.

“What if it comes out a boy?”

Tom and Adrien looked at Alya. Chloe ignored her.

“They could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.” She shrugged.

“We’ll love it no matter what?” Said Adrien, slowly.

“You guys don’t have a backup name. And everything we have is for a girl.”

Chloe sighed, taking Alya’s coffee from her, muttering under her breath, “After this, we need to get you to Alix.”

Alya scoffed, flipping the middle finger to Chloe.

They waited another half hour in silence.

Alya sighed, “She’s taking a long time. It almost makes me not want to ever get pregnant.”

They ignored her.

Another half hour.

“Well… I’m adopting. I’m not going through that at all.”

“Shut. Up.” Murmured Chloe.

Finally, twenty minutes later, Sabine called for Adrien to come in.

“What? What about me!?”

She shrugged at Alya, her smile never leaving her face. “She called for Adrien. Only one at a time, for now, said the doctor.”

“I’m her best friend.” She whispered as he walked away with Sabine.

“Oh, she’s precious! So beautiful! She has the cutest curls and the most bright and beautiful eyes! You’ll fall in love the second you see her! Oh! And her tiny nose! Oh, it's so cute!” 

Adrien smiled at the proud grandma, and for the first time in a long time, he missed his mother.

“You go in. One at a time.”

Adrien nodded as Sabine pushed him in.

Inside he found Marinette, a sweaty mess, topless and crying as she held onto her newborn girl, petting the little girl’s head.

“Look at her. She’s so… I still can’t find the words!” She whispered, motioning for him to come closer.

He was almost at her side when a nurse asked for him to take off his shirt.

“Uhm… excuse me?”

“Skin on skin contact? To create a bond?” Asked the nurse, as though it was the most obvious thing ever.

He looked at Mari to see her looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

“Bond?” He asked, wanting to make sure it was what he was guessing.

“The first half hour after the baby’s born, it is recommended for the baby to make a skin on skin contact with the parents to strengthen the bond between them. It is highly more recommended for the father.”

Part of him felt the need to correct her, that little Charlotte was not really his, but the look in Mari’s eyes killed that voice and forced him to undress. Anything for her and the little girl.

He didn’t regret it at all.

Not when the nurse placed the little beauty in his arms.

Not when he felt her warmth on his chest.

Not when her little hand held tightly to his pointer finger.

Not when Mari wiped the tear the was falling down his face.

Fuck whatever biology said.

She was his.

They were both his.

And no one could change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Join us down here in the crying pit. 
> 
> EDIT: It has been edited. went from 8k to 12k... I don't know how.
> 
> Again, if you find any grammar errors, plot holes, continuity errors, any kind of mistakes, tell me.  
> If you liked it, TELL ME!


	5. Filling the void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A filler chapter in some ways.  
> Fills in a few plot holes.  
> Fills in time.  
> Fills in Mari.  
> Fills in your heart.  
> Just a filler chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. This. . . took a long time. Almost a month. Fucking writer's block. If ya find the scene at the end awkward, just know. . . I was feeling awkward. 
> 
> Let's get a few things out:  
> The time skips are obvious as possible, but I once got confused so here it is: Add the time I'm saying to the previous number. You'll understand when you see it.  
> I'm not going to add anything to this chapter unless it is an emergency case. This chapter was too hard to write. I really don't like fillers. If there are questions I will do my best to answer them in the comments, and if they will be answered later I will most likely ignore the question or say "WAIT". 
> 
> Edit: THIS CHAPTER WAS ALSO EDITED. I don't know where. If you did what I told you then you know that I only remember that big changes. 
> 
> Side note: This chapter was soooo hard, I didn't even have an idea for title or summary. So I went for an honest title and summary. I really like these weird names for chapter titles. 
> 
> ENJOY!!!

6 months later

~~Code Yellow: One sighted the Blonde Devil doing shitty stuff and they, together, must gather to help the victim. (They haven't used this one in a while.) (Only if the helper isn't doing anything important. Family gathering and regular dates count as important in this code.)~~

Code Yellow: Babysitting. (Only to be used in emergency situations where Mama Cat needs someone to immediately watch over her kitten.) (Can’t be used for preplanned babysitting. Just talk it out.)

“I’ll never be able to talk shit to Adrien.” 

Mari smiled, looking up from her cup of coffee, hand rocking a baby carriage back and forth, trying to put Charlotte back to sleep. 

“He hates Gabriel and he just . . . went and worked as a what? Businessman? There just because he wanted to help you and maintain you?” 

Mari shook her head and put her coffee down, “He’s a VP and being trained to be co-CEO. And right now Gabriel Co. is going through the process of rebranding itself to be called Agreste. Now that Adrien has agreed to take the company after.”

Alya scoffed, still not liking the answer, “Agreste?”

“It’s better than Gabriel and Son.” 

Chloe tried to laugh and ended up choking on her tea, sputtering as she cleaned herself, “Gab- Gabriel and Son. Oh god! That would have been a nice kick to Adrien’s balls!” She kept laughing, trying to gather her breath as her voice deepened in a mocking tone, “‘Son. Now you work for me, or with me, but I won’t acknowledge it at all. All you will be to this company is a three letter addition. Now do everything I say.’” 

Alya nodded, not laughing but acknowledging the joke, “More like six letters, but still.”

Chloe calmed down, asking for a refill before coming back to the conversation, “Agreste works. And honestly, that’s what it should have been called from the beginning. Gabriel may not want to admit it but he always wanted Adrien to take over the company once he was too old, and he wants the company to stay in the family. So naming it after himself was just a selfish move to enlarge his ego. Agreste is and was always the best option.”

“That’s not the point! He’s working for his father after telling us he wanted to quit!” Alya exclaimed.

“He wanted control.” 

Both girls looked at Mari as she picked up a fussing Charlotte who refused to fall asleep to the rocking. 

“He just didn’t want to be a tool for his father to throw around like ‘Model here, model for them, put your pretty face here, there and there.’. He wanted to be a part of his father’s life, not just a carry-on. And now he’s very close to being on the same pillar Gabriel holds himself. He’s gaining his father’s respect. He’s not just ‘The son of Gabriel’. He’s ‘Adrien Agreste, the son of Gabriel and the vice-president of Agreste Co.’.”

Alya finally stayed quiet, probably satisfied with the answer, while Chloe smiled and nodded at Mari. Chloe really cared for Adrien, almost --or exactly-- as a brother. She knew better than anyone, even better than Mari, just how stupid he could be. 

“Anyway! I came here because I’m looking for a babysitter, not to discuss Adrien’s life choices. Grandma is sick, possibly terminal, and Momma went off to China to take care of her, and I love my dad, but. . . No. I’m not leaving Charlotte alone with him. Plus, he’s taking care of the shop by himself.” 

“Why? What you got going on and when?” Alya asked easily, motioning for Mari to give her Charlotte to try and soothe her. She wasn’t crying, but she was fussing, clearly tired and not understanding yet how to make herself go to sleep. 

“Next Tuesday. Interview with Alexa to go from Assistant to Co-Designer. I really don’t want to get coffees for prissy Alexa anymore. And I’ve more than proved my worth.” 

“Weren’t you supposed to go back to school?” Chloe asked. 

Mari shrugged, “When things calm down again with Charlotte and the job I’ll go and finish it.” 

Alya made soft noises for Charlotte, softly rocking her on her chest, she whispered, “Why can’t Adrien watch her for an hour? He’ll be in the building.”

“He’ll be in the interview. Alexa, Adrien, and Adelene Leroy.” 

“. . .” Chloe squinted, clearly trying to remember who two of these people were, and knowing that they had been mentioned to her at one point, “Your designer ‘boss’, your vice president boyfriend and. . . Nope, drawing a blank.” 

“The head of the Designer Department. All projects have to be approved by her before they go to Gabriel. And all promotions or hiring or firings have to be approved by her as well. So, she has to be there.” 

“What’s with all these people with names that start with A?” Asked Alya.

Both girls stared at her before Alya remembered her name also started with an A, and she scoffed at herself. 

Chloe shook her head and looked at Mari, “Anyway, unless you want me to bring her to a classroom full of rowdy toddlers, I don’t think I’m a good idea.” 

“Are you still gonna finish your French degree?” Alya was in a real conversational mood or was trying to divert or distract. 

“Nope. I finished the enrollment process to change majors, and now I’ll graduate with a degree in educational studies. Anyway, back to the subject. I can’t. Adrien can’t. Mari can’t. Her parents can’t. Why are you avoiding it getting to you Alya? You love Charlotte.” 

“Because I will be busy on Tuesday.” She muttered. 

Mari gave her an incredulous look. “On a Tuesday afternoon? On the day you don’t have classes? On your ‘nap day’? You have something to do on ‘nap day’?” 

Alya scoffed, not liking being put in a corner, “Remember that Mathew transfer?” 

“Uhu.” Both Chloe and Mari said, already not liking where this was going.

“He asked me on a date. And I decided that’s it’s finally time that I give boys the time of day for a proper relationship. Sex is great and all, but I’m a ‘movies on a couch with rumpled hoodies is the perfect kind of date’ kind of girl. And you can’t do that unless you’re in a relationship.” 

Chloe looked at Mari, Chloe being in on the mission ‘Don’t let Alya get a new boyfriend’. “Well, you can’t reschedule your interview.” She said a little more loudly and desperate than it was probably intended. Working around kids was probably ruining her sneak and lying skills. 

Mari nodded, “And you can’t not teach the children!” 

“And Tom is baking!” Chloe followed, lowering her tone back to conversational and factual. 

“And Adrien is working.” 

Both girls looked at Alya, a small smirk on both their faces as they said together, “So all there’s left is you.” They said, matter-of-fact as though it was an inconvenience to them all. As though they were actually sad that Alya was going to miss her first date since Nino and she broke up. When in reality, they were close to getting up and dancing from joy at how great it was that Alya’s first date happened to land on the day of Mari’s interview. 

“You girls suck. He seems really nice.” Alya muttered.

Chloe shrugged, “Then he won’t mind rescheduling.” 

He did mind. 

\--

6 months later

“Should we yell surprise when they get here?” 

Mari looked at Alya who was way too hyped up and was starting to not make sense. “For a one-year-old?” 

“Oh.” 

Mari went off to the kitchen to gather more snacks and put them on the plates. She wasn’t going to lie. She was nervous. There was a sense of needing this day to be perfect, of needing her daughter's first birthday party to be perfect. Almost as though if this wasn’t perfect, it was going to affect Charlotte’s life. It wasn’t. It was a first-time mother paranoia. At least, that’s what her mother kept telling her. 

Right now they were waiting for Adrien and Gabriel to arrive. Adrien who had Charlotte --since he was the one who had taken her earlier that morning to give her a trim--, and who was picking up Gabriel to make sure he wouldn’t flake on her birthday party. 

Apparently, tourism had decided to make promotions for back-to-school and gave many tours on sale before the back-to-school drama begin so a lot of Americans were here, and a lot of tours were on the streets and there was a ridiculous amount of traffic that had both Adrien and Gabriel ‘pretty’ irritated. 

The disadvantages of living in Paris. 

Gabriel and Adrien arrived with Charlotte a good two hours after the party had started, and Charlotte was asleep. And while Adrien and Mari had trained Charlotte to fall asleep and sleep soundly through a noisy environment, as soon as everyone saw Adrien come in with snoozing Charlotte, the party quieted down. No matter how much Adrien and Mari told everyone that it was okay to talk normally, people insisted on speaking in a quiet tone or just straight up whispering. Adrien and Mari gave up soon after.

Mari now sat on a counter in the kitchen, hidden with Adrien and Sabine, all three of them basically munching in secret as they stared at the party, waiting for Charlotte to wake so they could sing her happy birthday. A birthday party for an infant who wasn’t even aware it was happening was never truly a fun party. 

“Did you see Alya’s date? I swear that girl can do better.” Sabine turned from the crowd to look at the couple, “I thought you two were on a mission to keep her from dating.” 

Adrien shrugged, “We can’t stop all of her dates. She’ll pick up on it. All we can do is prevent them from getting too far. And Alya is picky so that works in our favor.” 

“Alya barely lets any guy get a second date, and the ones that do get through, we mess them up,” Mari added.

“I want to mess one up,” Sabine said with a small smile on her face. 

Both Adrien and Mari looked at her with a mix of confusion and bafflement, “You?” 

Sabine shrugged, a small smirk on her face, “I was young once. I had friends who made dumb mistakes. I used to break rules, climb fences and fight girls who came to our territory. I was a little punk when I was a teenager. Before my mother brought me here.” Sabine looked away, as though seeing it right there and then, clear as day. “Momma thought that if I kept to that life I wasn’t going to grow to be twenty. That’s why she worked her butt off to get me out of there and bring me here.” She then looked at Mari, almost like an example of how her life is now, and nodded. “She was probably right.” 

Adrien asked in a sort of whisper, “Probably?” 

“I was a good fighter. I had a record. Undefeated. I was close to being the leader of the gang.” She said with a clear smirk on her face, clearly bragging about a life she had barely lived and would never even glimpse it again. She was a family woman, with a peaceful designer daughter and a quiet granddaughter, both of which will never know anything but the city life. Not even to mention, a peaceful and jolly baker husband who, contrary to what you might believe, was just a very tame bear. She could never be that punk again. 

“My mother underestimated me in a way. At least that’s what it always felt like. When I went back, all those girls who were part of my crew, they were there. Taking care of my mother. We were like a sisterhood and she took me away from it, and even then, my sisters still took care of her leading up to her dying days because they knew my mother meant a lot to me.”

Mari didn’t think grandmama underestimated her. Mari knew that if Sabine knew of all the things she had done as Ladybug, she would still freak out, forgetting completely how she was a ‘rebel’ herself. Motherhood changes a woman. 

“I may not have strong friendships here like the ones you kids have, but I know what a brotherhood or a sisterhood is. I know what it is to be in one. To want to protect those in it. To guide them to better things against their better judgments. To do ridiculous things to prevent them from making dumb mistakes. To stop your girls from going out with guys that are clearly not made for them.” 

Mari looked at Adrien to see him staring at her like a child to his father dressed as Superman. Sabine may not wear a suit, but she was some sort of hero to him. Not just that, but a reminder, or a filler to something he will never have again. 

Chloe then came in holding Charlotte, who was still trying to wake up, almost like she knew there was a party she needed to get to. “The birthday girl is up, and seemingly hungry.” 

Immediately Adrien and Mari went into the process of preparing a bottle for her and pulling out the cake from the fridge, all while Sabine walked away towards Alya, to do God-knows-what. 

“Is that cake chocolate?” Chloe asked quietly while rocking Charlotte who was more aware now that her parents were making her bottle. 

“Yes, Chloe. We got the damn chocolate cake you wanted.” Adrien said while trying and almost failing to pull out the two-tier chocolate and almond cake that Chloe had insisted on getting. Apparently, her new thing to replace love with was chocolate and exercise. The second one being mostly that the girls had made an event out of getting Mari to exercise after her pregnancy, and none of them stopped after Mari had regained her previous form. 

Chloe looked down to Charlotte, who also looked up at her, Chloe mimicking her doe-eyed look and slightly confused expression, “Learn this now Charlie, chocolate is better than boys and girls.”

Mari shook the bottle, looking at Charlotte, smiling at how she almost seemed to nod, before looking at her dad placing the cake on the counter and sort of pointed at him, “Dada.” 

Mari was glad that Adrien had placed the cake on the counter, maybe a little too close to the edge, as his arms dropped and his expression became completely baffled at what Charlotte said and did. 

Charlotte had been making random noises so far, but nothing as concise as this, a clear word and a clear recognition of the word. 

Adrien broke down, rushing to her and picking her up, patting her head, “Yes, dada. I am dada. I am your daddy, and you're my little princess!” 

Mari didn’t know if Adrien knew that he was softly crying, but she wasn’t going to point it out. She figures she’ll do the same when Charlotte finally learns to pronounce the letter M. Or when Charlotte lets go of the couch and walks by herself. 

Right now, this was Adrien’s moment. And considering that truth-be-told he was a fill-in dad, Charlotte’s recognition and appraisal were most deserved by him. 

\--

1 year later

Ladybug looked at herself in the mirror of her bedroom. 

She didn’t think this would shock her this much, but instead, here she was, baffled by her own reflection. 

It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen herself in her almost three years vacation, don’t get her wrong.

It was that she hadn’t seen Ladybug in that almost three years vacation. And she completely forgot that whatever changes her body went through, Ladybug would go through them as well.

She had seen her body change from that of a teen girl to a woman. But now Ladybug was a mom. 

She had managed to regain her athletic form, but it was clear with her wider hips, her still slightly fuller breasts, still very tired eyes, and the biggest change of them all; her hair. 

After Charlotte began to gain motor control and had become obsessed with pulling anything and everything that got in her reach, Mari had completely quit on her long hair and cut it to a pixie cut, ignoring Adrien’s cries as he watched years worth of growing her hair out fall to the ground. She didn’t regret it at all. She was free from Charlotte’s hands, free from messy hair getting in the way of her work and now free of that dumb naive little girl she had once been. 

But somehow, every time she remembered Ladybug she always remembered the Ladybug that she was at fourteen. And the contrast was immense.

She sighed, shook her disbelief away and left quietly through her window. 

She had only an hour and a half left to do this before Adrien came back from visiting his father, and her mother asked her to pick up Charlotte or drop of something for her to spend the night with. She never imagined before that being Ladybug would have to be limited to an hour or an hour and a half. 

But here she was, rushing through the rooftops to go to her origin point, the place from where she once-upon-a-time used to start all of her patrols, her starting place, her relaxation place. . . their place.

After being on hiatus for two years, you can betcha ass that the group chat she was in with her crew blew the fuck up. She didn’t bother to read all of it if she had she would still be reading them and all her time as Ladybug would have run out. But she got the most important information out of it very quickly. 

Chat was back. 

Chat had been back.

Chat had been back for a while. 

She guessed Chloe didn’t tell her everything. 

She was close to the Eiffel Tower when she saw him, leaving, most likely to start his patrol. . . Or maybe he had seen her. . .

She tried to ignore that voice as she climbed the tower and positioned herself on the second platform top-to-bottom. The top one felt too. . . wrong. 

She sat down on the edge, sending quick messages to everyone -except Carapace- that she was back in business and to give her a day to patrol. She should have known that Chat would have kept Saturdays to himself. He always considered patrol to be like a Saturday night fun kind of thing. And not like something that people get paid to do and most don’t like it. 

She forgot how different the air was up here, how fresh. She quickly remembered why she loved being at the top of the tower. 

The air was fresh, the view was incredible, the lights were beautiful and the sounds of the city were like music. It was a place where the emotion of nostalgia could be seen and heard, where happy moments were birthed every minute, a place where everything just seemed to fit together to create the beautiful picture of love and beauty. 

Maybe she was spending too much time with Charlotte and her children’s shows. 

Or maybe she was reading too many romantic novels. 

. . . She really didn’t like those children’s shows, so distracting herself with those corny novels while Charlotte giggled through someone counting numbers was a worthy sacrifice. 

“What did you do to your hair?!” 

She turned around to see that the Chat had snuck up on her, she looked at the time to see that almost half an hour had passed since she made the landing. 

“Short patrol there, eh?” 

“Your hair!” His eyes looked so bright and shocking with all the green that was in them and how wide they were. He looked horrified. 

She shook her head, smiling like a mother to a child, “We all have to grow up, Chat.” 

“We all did! And you decided at eighteen that your change into adulthood was going to be to let it all grow out! NOT CUT IT OFF!” 

“It’s just hair, Chat.” She shrugged. 

“Agghtd!” He choked on a gurgle of sounds, shocked at her statement. Baffled. 

She shook her head and looked back out to the city. “I’m back.” She said in a low voice. 

“And you cut your ha-”

“Chat, move on! There are more important things to talk about!” 

Chat stayed quiet, eyes golfing out, looking a little scared. And that’s when she realized she yelled at him as a mother yells at a child. And he reacted like one. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. But I can’t ignore the fact that this is the first time you’ve spoken to me face to face since that night.” She was sitting on the edge, her body half turned to look at him, and she couldn’t decide between getting up and having this adult conversation, or sliding off and running away. 

But she’s a mother now, she has to make responsible decisions now.

. . . But she’s a mother now, she’s tired of always having to be the responsible one. 

“Alright. Let’s talk like adults,” He said softly, sitting down a bit behind her with his legs crossed, and were it not for the slightly terrified and slightly grim look on his face, she would she say he looked like even more like child now, with his hands grabbing at his feet as though unsure of what to do with them. 

“It was very immature of me to not allow you a chance to explain what you did. It was very immature of me to not understand how important our identities are. It was very immature of me to walk out that night. And it was super, mega immature of me to hide in my civilian form while the war against Hawk Moth continued on. But to defend myself on that last one, I was right on the whole ‘if Chat and Lady aren’t there then Hawk Moth has nothing to fight for, so he’ll give up’. Who would have to know that that was the secret all along.” He sounded sure of himself when he began like he had rehearsed this many times in front of a mirror. But by the end, he was the same old insecure kitty who was yearning for everyone’s approval, and he really didn’t want to make another mistake now. 

She nodded, taking in everything he said before sighing and turning around to face him completely. 

“It was immature of you to do all those things. It was dumb of me to forget that the more I pushed, the stronger your walls would be. It was dumb of me to not expect that you would want much more than just. . . that. It was-”

“Sex. We’re adults. No need to be shy about that word.” He said with a small smirk on his face.

She scoffed, “I have my reasons, and I didn’t interrupt you.”

He nodded, motioning for her to continue on.

“It was . . . I’m sorry. . . For what I did and how it made you feel.”

He nodded, an understanding smile replacing the smirk. “I know. I read all the messages. I can tell when you don’t mean something. I knew you were beyond sorry about it all. But. . . I’m really good at holding grudges.” He shrugged, looking like no one hated that about him more than he did. 

“I’m sure you had your reasons. You can’t ignore feeling hurt. You can’t ignore actually being hurt. If you fall down and scrape your knee, you can’t just walk away, ignoring the bleeding, and pretend it didn’t happen. You needed time to heal. . . I just wished you had let me help you.” 

Chat looked at her, his entire confident charisma breaking down in a second, seeming to realize for the first time that by walking away and closing himself off, he hurt her. He nodded, like a child who knew he did something wrong, looking away at the city, “I’m sorry for that as well.” 

She joined him for a few silent minutes, staring at the city alive in the distance, ignorant to the intense tension between their heroes. Ignorant to how this talk could very well heal their relationship, or make it worse, alienating one another. 

“We moved on, didn’t we?” 

She looked at him, wondering for a second if he was trying for the latter, before remembering that she had also moved on. She nodded, remembering the kind, silly, caring and the sometimes stubborn blond man waiting for her at home with her beautiful child. She has moved on big time. 

But as she looked at Chat she could almost feel whatever warmth had attracted her to him in the first place lighting up again. 

She ignored it. 

“I need a patrol day. And the others are obviously not going to be in the suit for a few days I suppose. You know the schedule, I hope. What day can I patrol?” She said, trying to move on from the subject that she personally thought had nothing more to pull from. 

“What’s wrong with tonight?” He muttered, moving to the edge with her and looking down at the group of tourist gathered below, probably wondering about the two hanging feet on the Eiffel Tower. Not everyone outside of Paris is made aware of what happens there. And it has been a long time since Hawk Moth attacked. 

“You patrol tonight.” She said matter-of-factly. 

He shrugged, “I patrol weekends. Unless I’m out of the country, which then Bee and Foxy trade the days between one another. I don’t mind sharing. You know how I’ve always felt about patrolling alone.” 

She nodded, remembering how Chat felt about being alone altogether. “I guess we can share.” 

He nodded. 

They stayed quiet for a while, watching as friends fought because of tourism mistakes, couples proposed to each other on the ‘most romantic place on earth’, and parents wondered why they brought their children on this Paris vacation. Maybe that was one of the reasons they both loved the Eiffel Tower tops that much, people watching. 

After a while she heard him scoff and mutter under his breath, “I can’t believe she also cut her hair,” sounding entirely disgruntled by it. 

She giggled, feeling that maybe they could go back to being friends. 

And nothing more. 

\--

1 year later

Mari watched from the top of the stairs at Adrien slowly closing Charlotte’s door as he left her sleeping in her room with soft music playing. 

Charlotte had taken a liking to sleep with her parents, and it was slowly taking a toll on the relationship they were still building. 

All in all. . . Adrien had been perpetually in the mood for four months straight and Charlotte has been having nightmares or has been refusing to sleep alone for the past five. Even she was getting antsy about the lack of sex. 

They had re-started a training routine to get her to sleep in her room that consisted of:

  1. Not letting her fall asleep in their room 
  2. Putting soothing music in her room -she loves slow soft music- 
  3. Reading her to sleep in her bed every night 
  4. When she came crying in the middle of the night either taking her back to her room and repeating step 3 or refusing to let her in and let her learn to soothe herself back to sleep.



It broke both their hearts to leave her outside crying, but -as had been explained to them many times- Charlotte needed to learn to soothe herself, otherwise, she would always depend on them to calm her down. 

She heard the click of the door and a sigh from Adrien and she smiled, walking up to him, hugging him from behind. 

“Want to make sinful stuff against this door?” 

He quietly laughed and aggressively shook his head, “It took me over an hour to get her to sleep. If we’re fucking, we are doing it in China, far away from her, so that the noise doesn’t wake her up.” 

“Well, where’s the fun in that?” She teased, smirking. 

He turned around in her arms, engulfing her in his, “The fun you’re looking for is for wild college kids in their early twenties, not us.” 

She blinked, a smile still in on her face, “Adrien. . . We are college kids in our early twenties.” 

“One of us is. I’m a businessman, and you’ll be doing quiet, slow sex as all parents do. Perfectly positioned in the bed in a safe position, because neither of us can afford to have sex injuries.” 

She groaned, nudging her head in his neck before hearing a ruffling from inside Charlotte’s room, pulling off and leading him to their bedroom. “I don’t want boring old people sex. I’m still young, I can still bend and put my leg above my head! Use it to your advantage, Adrien!” 

Adrien closed the door behind him, a small smirk on his face at seeing he wasn’t the only one who was sexually frustrated. “Alright, but five years from now, it’ll be you explaining to Charlotte what she heard us doing here. Because that kid wakes up for any noise.” 

She scoffed, slightly flinching at the idea of 7-8-year-old Charlotte remembering or recognizing the noise and asking them about it, and then having to explain sex to her. Hell, she wouldn’t be surprised if Charlotte camped outside the door and waited till morning to ask. 

She looked at him mimicking Charlotte’s puppy eyes, “But I’ve been naughty and I need to be punished.” She said in a slightly playful voice. 

He shook his head, a shy smile on his face and a bright blush covering his cheeks, “The nice girls are always the craziest in bed.” 

She shrugged, pressing herself against him, murmuring against his lips, “We all have our kinks. I still don’t know what yours are. What are they, baby?” 

His smirk came back as he looked down at her with his best seductive eyes, “Long, sweet, romantic sex that lasts till morning.” 

She shook her head and scoffed, “Ew. Pick something better like stockings or secretary. Ooh! I can pretend to be your secretary and visit-” 

“No. Let’s. . . Let’s just call Alya and explain to her that you’re super thirsty to get plowed into the headboard and ask her if she can babysit Charlotte.” He said it like he would announce the weather, quick and nonchalant, as though his description of what she wanted wasn’t exactly accurate and didn’t light up a flame between her thighs. 

She shrugged, “We can do that now.” 

“The bed will creak.”

“Then fuck me on the floor, goddammit! How are you so calm?! You can’t tell me handy is better than me.” She said exasperatedly. 

He smiled, brushing the strand of hair that fell on her face after her outburst behind her ear, “Nothing can ever replace you. But while I am. . . desperate to be back in the place that makes me reconsider if I want to have more kids now every time I go there, I am also tired from working all day, and then spending two hours playing with Charlotte to tire her out only to still have to spend an hour and a half putting her to sleep. So, if we’re gonna do it, it’s gonna be relaxing slow sex that won’t quickly tire me out. And if you want the good wild sex that younglings are having these days, you must arrange an appointment, my lady, because right now I’m full.” 

Mari sighed, hugging him tight and hiding her face on his neck, “That almost sounded kinky. But A for effort. Alright, I’ll call her tomorrow.” 

He nodded, kissing her head before he felt her lips begin to tease his neck. 

She felt him stiffen before he said, “So we’re going for slow and easy?” 

“I need a release.” 

“You’re making it sound like we haven’t done anything in months.”

“We haven’t.” She murmured, her hands making for his belt. 

“I meant in big numbers, like . . . those that estimate to the higher numbers.” 

She stopped, sighing and looked at him, “Don’t bring nerd comments or math into the bedroom. I get it, that’s your sort of department now, but nothing is less arousing than math. Just say ‘over five months’. And anyway, some of us haven’t been playing with ourselves to calm ourselves down.” 

He gave a short laugh, before pulling his shirt off and pushing her to the bed, “Why?” 

She shrugged as he pulled off her jeans, “After the first month, just the handwork wasn’t enough.” 

She then went quiet, staring intensely as he began to kiss his way up to her heat. She knew this routine by now, and even if she wanted much more than the tender, quiet loving that he was about to give her, she couldn’t deny that she missed this. She missed any kind of contact that wasn’t pg for Charlotte’s eyes. 

As he reached the scar on her thigh she laid back, knowing that he was going to pay attention for a few minutes to a scar she had lied about, but also stay there knowing that it teased her to stay so close to her sex to the point of feeling his breath, but not getting anywhere near where she could anticipate him touching her. 

As soon as his lips touched her scar she remembered the panic that went through him the first time he undressed her and saw the large slash on her thigh, he immediately assumed that some sort of attempt at rape had occurred. She had spent a few minutes calming him down while coming up with an excuse that didn’t put her anywhere near an Akuma attack, ending with ‘When I was cleaning my room, back in high school, for things to take to the apartment, my sewing machine slipped from my grasp and ripped my thigh.’. It was plausible, she had a few scars on her arms due to her sewing machine. He’s seen them all. 

“Adrien, I love you and appreciate you. But can you leave all the teasing for when you get the chance to ‘plow me to the headboard’? If we’re doing this just to scratch an itch, scratch it.” 

She felt him depart his lips from her thigh and heard him laugh softly, “We could always just do handsies for now if you want to leave the whole shebang for when we get a babysitter.”

She closed her eyes, feeling him crawling up to her, “Handsies?” 

“Yeah. I had a good teacher to help me perfect this.” He said before spreading her legs with his right hand and kissing his way up her neck, stopping at her mouth as she asked, “I meant, what do you mean by handsies?” 

She opened her eyes to see him staring at her, his lips inches from hers and his hand inches from her crotch. He shrugged, closing the distance on both sides, his lips pressing to hers to shut her up before she made a sound, and his fingers making their way inside her moistened panties, immediately teasing at her entrance. 

Yes. It wasn’t what she wanted. But it was what she needed. 

To feel any part of him paying attention to that heat. 

One of her hands sneaked into his hair, making sure he couldn’t pull away, before she used her right leg to push them sideways, Adrien falling to his side beside her, hand still inside her panties and pulling her towards him, which she did, turning to her side, placing her leg above his hip, giving him enough access to continue his assessments. 

Once she finally felt him get comfortable in this new position, she used her left hand to unbuckle his trousers, throwing the belt away and regretting it immediately as the sound of metal hitting wood resonated around the room, “Sorry.”

He looked her straight in the eyes, a small twitch on the corner of his serious lips as he tried not to smirk, “You should be more careful,” He whispered, lips barely moving, fingers frozen at her entrance, “Otherwise I might have to stop.” He finished, inserting two fingers in without a second to think, making a small gasp leave her partially open mouth. 

Her eyes never left his, mouth remaining partially open as he kept her quiet and obedient under his stare, “Do you want me to stop?” His voice never went above a whisper but it was all she could hear besides the beating of her heart that accelerated at his sensual tone. 

His fingers paused inside her and she immediately shook her head, “No, please don’t.” She whined in a whisper.  
“Good.” 

She stayed captivated by his stare, following his whispered instructions, unzipping his pants and removing his member from his underwear. Besides the tiny -almost inaudible- inhale, he did nothing to let her know that her tight grip on his member was acknowledged. 

He just kept to his work between her legs, riling her up to where she couldn’t think or move her hands and then letting her cool down before she reached an orgasm, giving her time to return the favor. 

After a few rounds of this, the leg that she had hooked on his hip pulled at him, pulling him closer.

“Please.” She murmured before kissing him. 

He didn’t respond, but kept to his doings, not stopping this time, ignoring when her hand went limp on his erection and kissing her tightly as she reached her orgasm. 

Mari had always like to think of herself as quiet in the bedroom, and she was for the most part, but some part of her had enjoyed and fell in love with his reactions and adoration to her moans and whimpers, and that part had somehow trained her to be noisier during bed, and now she couldn’t stop. 

Though with what little control she had left she managed to help him muffle her moan into something of a whimper. 

After the high, she let her head drop, taking deep breaths to regain her composure; she still had to finish him off. 

As she paced her breathing she felt him pull at her underwear, most likely disposing of it somewhere on the ground, soon after hearing him shuffle out of his trousers and underpants. 

Mari looked up as he finished disposing of his underwear and motioned to the edge of the bed, “Sit.” 

He smiled, sitting down and watching her climb out of the bed and kneel between his legs, “Shirt off.”

She smirked, taking off her shirt and immediately beginning to lick his cock, knowing he would be a little disgruntled at her still wearing her bra, but wouldn’t be unable to bitch about it until he regained his composure. 

She licked at the head slowly, attentively watching his face twitch as he focused on not making a sound. After a few minutes of her teasing and him not saying anything she gave up and took him into her mouth, almost smiling as she felt him reach behind her back to undo her bra and push it down her shoulders. She pulled away, giving a few tugs as she whispered, “You always want the full view, even if it’s a teaser.” 

“Any excuse to see you naked.” He murmured, tilting his head back as she took him in again. 

She continued calmly sucking him off until she felt his hands dig into her hair and grab her head, indicating he was close and was no longer up for teasing. She pulled away, moving back and motioning for him to stand up before she took him in her mouth again. 

When he didn’t get at what she was offering, she grabbed his hands, placing them back on her head, and grabbed at his ass, pulling him into her mouth. 

He sighed, “I’m not going to fuck your mouth.”

She pulled away, hand tightly holding his erection close to her mouth and glared at him, “I’m asking you to pull my hair and fuck my face. What about that is so unalluring?” 

“We agreed to slow and easy.” 

“It’ll be easy for me if you fuck my face, and no man gets to orgasm with slow sucking.” She muttered. 

“Mari-”

“My hand is tired. And my jaw is not far behind. And you know I think its sexy when you do it. It’s a win-win-win.” 

He groaned but didn’t say anything else as he swatted her hand away and pushed himself into her mouth, a tight grip on her hair, never looking away from her eyes that stared back at him. It was a win-win situation. Her hand was tired, hearing him groan was arousing her again, and she knew she wasn’t the only one who had this in her list of kinks. He loved it when he did this and she attentively stared at him through the whole thing. 

The romantic nerd. 

Her hand trailed down his legs, just to make sure he knew her hand was in action, departing when it reached his knees and went down to rub at her own clitoris. He whined, eyes twitching between her face and the barely visible hand between her legs, and began to thrust faster. 

She closed her eyes, her orgasm reaching her much faster this time, moaning deeply as he continued to fuck her mouth. She was barely back from the bliss when she felt his cum hit the back of her throat and it took all of her concentration not to choke. 

When he finished and pulled back, she immediately swallowed, making sure he was watching, trying to make sure it didn’t stay on her tongue too long. Say whatever you want to say, but this wasn’t a flavor she wanted to savor. But she did love his face whenever she swallowed, so she tolerated it. 

He leaned down and kissed her, laughing almost immediately as he tasted himself, “I’m sorry.” 

She shrugged, “I love you. You’re not a big fan of rough sex, but you still do it because you love me. I’m not a fan of that flavor, but I still swallow because I love you.” 

“And because the alternative it’s the carpet, and no one wants to clean that.” He murmured, trying to hold a laugh.

“I’m trying to be romantic, you ass!” 

He laughed, pulling her up and leading her towards the bathroom, ignoring her whine as she leaned on him, “Come on, you’ll hate yourself in the morning if you go to sleep sweaty and dirty.” 

“Okay, daddy.” 

“No.” 

She laughed. 

When morning came, Charlotte found herself having breakfast with two extra happy parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha. Guess who remembered her html classes! hahaha, anyway. . .
> 
> The next chapter is written. 
> 
> Did I mess up somewhere in this chapter? Tell me. I sure love to hear ya theories.
> 
> I mentioned this in the update. But songs sometimes inspire me. And I am composing a playlist on Spotify (that right now only has like seven songs each) for Mari/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir. If you have any songs that you think fit the situation or the characters(these ones in this story, not songs that fit the show), recommend them. Once I have a good playlist that has more than 20 songs each I will share it with you guys. (Fun fact: Mamma Mia II songs help me write this story and continue it.) 
> 
> Uhm. I don't know what else to say, other than. . . I guess its finally time to get on that Drarry fic that I was supposed to write two months ago.


	6. Needy Charlotte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now four years later our couple plan to destroy Alya's latest conquest after the news of Nino's nearby return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha. That was a nice summary.
> 
> So. . . I couldn't help myself. I had it. And I posted it. 
> 
> I warn now that I most likely won't post for a while seeing as I haven't written the next chapter and school starts tomorrow..... Yup. Once my sleeping schedule is back on track I will get this story on track as well. 
> 
> Edit: Chapter was edited. I'm sure I fixed something, don't ask me what it was.
> 
> Enjoy.

Sometimes things need to fall apart before they can be put back together.

This can happen more than once. 

It just means that they hadn’t be put back together correctly, and they needed to be fixed again.

“Papa, papa, papa!!”

Adrien walked in through the door, barely dropping his luggage before the tiny four-year old jumped into his arms.

“She has been sitting on the stairs for the past hour ever since you called.” Marinette said from the kitchen counter, drying out the plates for their family dinner.

Adrien nodded, pulling the girl up and hugging her tightly, “Oh, I missed you too Charlie! But why weren’t you helping momma with dinner? I’m sure she would have loved your help.”

“Papa’s more important than dinner. Dinner happens everyday, papa isn’t always here.” Charlotte said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Papa has to work, Charlotte, so that you can have brand new bikes and pretty dresses.” Mari added.

Adrien put Charlotte down, who refused to leave his side as she said, “But you make my dlesses, momma.”

“Yeah, but the material isn’t cheap.” Marinette refuted, beginning to set the table.

Adrien knelt down in front of Charlotte, “Papa’s gonna take a quick shower and get into something more comfortable. Help momma with the food.”

Charlotte nodded, now latching on to her momma like a leech, waiting for any order as Adrien went off to take a shower and prepare for dinner.

Marinette looked down at her little girl, dressed in a bright green dress that matched her eyes and went down to her tiny knees, white slippers with pastel green nylons, and her dark wavy hair done in a high ponytail. She had wanted to look her best for papa’s return from his business trip to Japan.

After placing the plates on the table, Marinette handed Charlotte the napkins and the utensils, that being the most she could trust the four-year old with. “Put one set next to each plate. Like momma does.”

Charlotte nodded, hands now full of utensils and napkins, carefully making her way over to the table to not disappoint her parents. 

Mari was almost done putting all the food on the table when Adrien finally made his way downstairs.

“Adrien?”

“Uhu?” Said Adrien distractedly as he helped Charlotte onto her chair, on the right side of his chair.

“Tomorrow I need you to go to Charlie’s elementary school to finish the paperwork. They won’t let her in without your signature.”

Adrien dropped on his chair, looking baffled, “What? I am not paying a shit ton of money for them t-”

“Adrien!”

“A poop ton of money for them to go around and kick my girl out!”

“What’s wrong with shit?”

Both parents looked at Charlotte with eyes wide, “No.”

“Why not?” Charlotte whined, already recognizing the pattern of words she was not allowed to use.

“Bad word.” Said Marinette, short and simple.

Charlotte nodded, pointing to her plate, waiting for any of the adults to put food on it.

Marinette began to serve her pasta as she explained, “It is because you are paying . . . all that money, that they need your signature. Otherwise, I think it’s kinda illegal to take your money without any proof of agreement on any contract.” 

Adrien nodded, serving himself a bit of salad, just to keep up an appearance and motivate Charlotte to eat her veggies.

He looked at her, still struggling a bit to hold her fork correctly as she ate, “So Charlie, are you excited to go to preschool? I heard you’re learning the alphabet this year.”

Charlotte switched between staring at her parents hands as they ate and trying to mimic them eating herself, “I already know the alphabet. Mama and Nana taught me.” 

“Wow! So you’ll be smarter than all the kids in there. That’s my girl!” Adrien went into high five her, which Charlotte excitedly did.

Adrien looked at Marinette who starred with a smile on her face, “What about you?”

“Oh, I’ve known the alphabet for a while now.” She said smirking.

He shook his head, trying not to laugh, “How’s work been?”

“How’s your dad been, you mean? He’s been fine. Stopped by my office twice this week to ask when you were coming back and when I was bringing Charlie over.” 

Adrien scoffed, “He knows my schedule. He’s the one who sends me places!”

“I think he just wanted to see when I could bring Charlie over. He clearly has picked a favorite.” Marinette said, nodding.

“And it’s not me.”

“Is that bad?” Mari asked, pointing at the little girl who was trying to hide a sauce stain on her chest by putting her hair down and covering the stain with it.

“You’re right, she’s the best.”

Charlotte looked up to see both her parents smiling at her, and nodded, whispering to herself as she forked more pasta, “I’m the best.”

Marinette and Adrien laughed.

“Oh! Nino called me before I left. Said he’s finally coming back.”

Marinette’s eyes widened, “Oh shit, fuc- POOP!”

Adrien forced himself not to laugh.

“Alya went on a date a week ago.”

Adrien’s eyes widened as he whispered, “Nooooooooooo.”

“And she said it went good.”

“Nooooooooooo.”

“They’re going on a second date.”

“Ruiiiiinnnn iiiiiiittttt!” He continued whispering.

“How?!”

Adrien pointed at Charlie.

“We haven’t gone on a date in a looong time. And I was gone for some time now.”

Marinette shook her head, knowing already where he was going with this. It is something they have done a few times already to keep Alya from going on second and third dates with sorta good guys.

“And Charlie would rather have one of her favorite aunts babysit her. It’s just a tragedy that our reservation happens to land on? . . . ?”

“This sunday.”

“This sunday! I’ll go make the call.” Adrien said excitedly, walking away to find his phone.

“So momma and papa are going to spend special time together?”

Marinette nodded at Charlotte, “Eat the veggies.”

“I want to spend time with papa.” 

Charlotte made it seem like a big deal, and in her small child world it probably was. But Adrien had only been gone for two weeks and this was the first time he had left this year. Adrien, at most, only left twice a year, spending more time filling in for his father while he went off to do fashion shows around the world. 

Hell, Marinette left more than Adrien did. 

But that was probably the reason why. 

Charlotte had grown incredibly attached to her daddy. She was a true Daddy’s Girl. 

“You get to spend time with Auntie Alya. You like her.”

Charlotte nodded, making grossed out faces as she chewed the salad. 

“Sunday at seven. Be ready by six.” 

“Get back here and eat this dinner your daughter and I slaved over!” 

Adrien laughed, settling back with his girls to enjoy family time.

\--

July/9

TheLameAdultsSquad:

2:22pm_Mari: Alya where are you?  
2:35pm_Alya: Lunch with Cece. Why?  
2:35pm_Chloe: What’s up?  
2:37pm_Mari: I need Alya to babysit Charlie tomorrow.  
2:38pm_Alya: WHAT?  
2:38pm_Alya: I have a very important date tomorrow!  
2:38pm_Alya: YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS!  
2:40pm_Alya: Cece said she’ll take care of her.

TheBugs:

2:41pm_Mari: Back. Out.   
2:41pm_Mari: Nino is coming back.  
2:41pm_Chloe: k

TheLameAdultsSquad:

2:50pm_Alya: Ok, nevermind. She can’t.  
2:50pm_Chloe: Sorry. My dad sucks.  
2:51pm_Mari: I understand.  
2:51pm_Mari: Alya?  
2:52pm_Alya: Why do I ahve to babysit her!!!?!/1/2.1?  
2:53pm_Mari: *Have. And because Adrien is back and apparently the idiot made a reservation for tomorrow that we just can’t miss.  
2:54pm_Alya: Take Charlie.  
2:54pm_Mari: I plan to do things Charlie shouldn’t know about yet.  
2:55pm_Alya: She’ll need to learn someday.  
2:55pm_Mari: Alya!!  
2:55pm_Alya: YOU ARE LUCKY I LOVE THAT GIRL!   
2:56pm_Alya: I don’t feel so good about you right now, though.   
2:56pm_Alya: Fine.  
2:57pm_Alya: @Adrien I hope it takes you an hour to get it up!  
2:59pm_Adrien: OoO  
2:59pm_Adrien: Get what up?  
2:59pm_Adrien: It’s Mari the one that’s packing.  
3:00pm_Mari: -.-  
3:01pm_Chloe: I KNEW IT!  
3:01pm_Mari: I have better things to do right now than talk about my 10 inch junk.  
3:02pm_Chloe: AHHH!!! XD  
3:02pm_Adrien left.  
3:02pm_Mari left.

**

“Yeah no. Don’t worry. When have I ever failed you?”  
Mari looked over at Adrien who was talking on the phone with Nino on speaker while drawing on the floor with Charlotte who refused to leave his side since his arrival yesterday.

“Huh. Lets see. Where do I start?”

“Charlotte!”

Charlotte took her dad’s queue to interrupt Nino before he said something incriminating, offensive, or just something he shouldn’t say with Charlotte listening, “Hi uncle Nino! How is Merica?”

Nino laughed, “Oh Charlie! America is … eh. It’s hot right now. Like your dad will be if I tell your mom all the crazy dumb things he used to do.”

“I’m also here.” Mari added, smiling.

Nino gasped, “MARI! I SAW ONE OF YOUR DRESSES ON THIS GIRL ON THE RED CARPET OVER HERE AND SHE WAS BRAGGING ABOUT WEARING GABRIEL FASHION THAT WAS DONE BY WOMEN AND SHE SAID YOUR NAME TO THE REPORTER AND I DROPPED FROM THE PODIUM BECAUSE I JUST HAD TO TELL THEM ABOUT YOU AND HOW I KNOW ONE OF THE BEST FASHION DESIGNERS IN PARIS AND HOW AWESOME SHE IS AND THEY LOOKED AT ME LIKE I WAS A WEIRDO BUT NOW THEY KNOW A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW AWESOME YOU ARE AND-”

“Okay! Nino sweetie, breathe.” Mari said softly laughing.

They could all hear him take a few deep breaths before getting back to the conversation, “. . . How’s Alya?” 

“Pissing off a lot of people. As usual of a journalist.” Adrien said, nonchalantly.

“I know how she’s doing regarding her job. I follow everything. You know what I meant. How’s Alya?”

Adrien and Mari stayed silent, the only sound that could be heard being that of Charlotte’s crayon furiously scribbling across paper. 

“She moved on then? I thought you said she wasn’t dating anyone.”

“She isn’t dating anyone seriously. . .” Adrien said slowly.

Charlotte giggled, “Yeah, because momma and pappa keep getting random things to do on the day of her dates and force her to babysit me. She’s not happy about it.”

“Good.” Was all that Nino said before they changed the subject.

It was about an hour later when Nino finally hung up, saying that he was literally at the airport about to go home. They all wished him a well trip, Charlotte more loudly than her parents, before he hung up, murmuring things about being excited to finally come home.

“Momma?”

Marinette got up from the floor where she had been sitting next to them, “Mhm?”

“Why do we have to ruin Auntie Alya’s dates?”

“Because Uncle Nino loves her, and even though Auntie Alya is angry at him for something he did, she still loves him. She just tells herself she doesn’t and tries to find other guys to help her forget him.”

Mari paused for a second before leaving to the kitchen, realizing that just a few years ago she did the same thing with the man she was now with. And it’s not that she doesn’t love Adrien, oh she loves him very much! But that tiny little Ladybug hidden deep in her heart is still holding on to Chat with a fervor. It’s not helping that she still sees him around.

“Charlotte, get your shoes so that we can go to grandmama’s house.” Mari yelled from the kitchen, packing macaroons and cookies into a small pouch she hid in her purse. 

“COOKIES!” Charlotte yelled, rushing to the door to find a pair of shoes that matched with her bright yellow pajamas that she had refused to take off all day.

Adrien laughed as he proceeded to clean up the art mess on the living room floor, “Your mother makes you cookies, you have cookies right here.”

Charlotte nodded pulling her transparent yellow rain boots, “Yeah, but grandpapa’s are better.” 

Mari laughed as she made her way upstairs to get a purse she had forgotten to give to her mother on her birthday. Or at least that was the excuse this time. 

Entering her closet she went to the purse cabinet, looking for a spotted backpack where she knew Tikki hid in, “Tikki, we have to go.” 

Tikki muttered a bit about being hungry before zooming into her purse, hiding in the snack pouch.

Back downstairs she could heard Charlotte and Adrien arguing about which drawing to take down from the fridge so that they could place a new one. 

“But the moon drawing is a work of art, Charlie. We can’t take down that beautiful masterpiece of yours.”

“No. It’s ugly, take it down and put the ladybug princess!”

“Fine! I’ll take the moon for myself, and we’ll put the ladybug princess on the fridge.” Adrien said, faking a heavy sigh as he pulled the night time drawing off the fridge. Mari knew he would literally take it for himself and put it in his office on Monday.

“Charlotte. Let’s go.”

Charlotte hugged her dad’s legs before running towards her mom. 

“Ready?” Marinette asked, looking down at her little girl dressed in short sleeved bright yellow pajamas, transparent yellow rain boots and her hair in two messy braids done by her daddy. She looked like a perfectly happy child. 

“Yes!”

Mari nodded, opening the door for Charlotte to begin making her way to the car as she said goodbye to Adrien. 

“Don’t. . . cook. I’ll bring food.” 

Adrien laughed, “I won’t, don’t worry.” 

Mari nodded, giving him a kiss and walking away towards Charlotte who bounced next to the car excitedly. 

Arriving at the Dupain-Cheng home, Charlotte didn’t waste a second, jumping into her grandpapa’s arms and begging for cookies. 

“Don’t spoil her too much papa. They do health checks at this school and will ask questions if she arrives with diabetes.” 

Sabine hugged her daughter, “Hush sweetie, we would never do anything to hurt her. We only give her the correct amount of snacks. If she gets diabetes it is because of your sugar daddy.” 

Marinette groaned, “Momma, I’ve told you many times. Sugar daddy means something much more different than what you think.”

“And I’ve told you I don’t care what the floozies think about that title, Adrien is a sugar addict and he’s Charlotte’s daddy. So he’s your sugar daddy.” 

Mari shook her head walking towards Charlotte, “Alright sweetie, momma’s gonna go and do her Saturday night job. Be good with grandmamma.”

Charlotte nodded, having learnt long ago to not ask questions about the Saturday night job and to not tell daddy about it. Charlotte hugged her mother, pulling her down to try and whisper in her ear, “I’ll get them to cook the chocolate macaroons for you.”

Mari laughed and whispered back, “Thanks!” 

Pulling away Mari saw her little girl run back to her grandpapa who was already waiting for her with a tiny green apron. 

Sabine patted her on the back, recognizing the same look Mari always gave when she dropped off Charlotte, “She’ll be fine.”

“I know, I just. . .”

“It’s only two hours.”

Mari nodded, finally turning away and leaving. It’s not that she doesn’t trust her parents to take good care of her, it’s just that she misses Charlotte so much. Both Adrien and her were so scared for Charlotte’s first day of school, both knowing how attached they were to Charlotte and how used they were to bringing her to work with them. It wasn’t going to be easy.

Mari walked for a few blocks, calmly looking around before doing an spontaneous turn and dodging into an alley. A few minutes later Ladybug appeared on the rooftops ready for patrol. 

When she arrived at the Eiffel Tower there was a fully grown chat already waiting for her.

“Meow!”

“Fuck you, Chat.”

Chat laughed. He watched as the full grown woman sat next to him. “How’s life been?”

“I should ask you. I’m not the one who took a two week vacation.”

“Oh, Asia was nice. Had to meet a lot of boring people to make sure my company doesn’t crumble to the ground on a technicality.” Chat said, faking excitement. 

“All to make sure your girlfriend doesn’t end up without a job.”

Chat nodded, “Can’t have that either.”

“I don’t understand how they can take you seriously with that dumb pigtail.”

“It’s a manly, sexy pigtail, and I do a man bun on business meetings. The pigtail is for patrol or when it’s too much to handle, the bun is for business and events and loose is for my girl.”

A while after her return it came as a shock to Ladybug that Chat refused to cut his hair to his usual messy short length. He just said his girlfriend told him she liked it long, and hinted at her enjoying pulling it during their rendezvous. That tiny Ladybug inside her heart that still yearned for Chat screamed in frustration and jealousy because she also found his new hairstyle attractive. It’s easier to pretend she disliked it.

“I mean, you don’t hear me complaining about you cutting off your pigtails. We were all broken hearted when you did that Lady. All of us. All of Paris. We all cried that night.”

“Oh stop being so dramatic.”

“We have a gravestone for your pigtails. Every year on the anniversary we leave flowers on it that attract ladybugs in hope that they will gather together and convince you to grow it out again.” Chat continued on, much more dramatically now.

Ladybug laughed.

“You know,” Chat said more calm now, “I heard people making jokes that we like… switched suits or shit like that.”

Ladybug just shook her head at the stupid comment because she knew where it was coming from, “Just because we switched hairstyles? That’s stupid. The crime doesn’t fit the punishment, persay.”

“And I never had it that short!”

“Because you never had the balls.” 

Chat gasped, “How do you know I got neutered?” 

Ladybug laughed again.

Sometimes she couldn’t believe how great things were between them. 

The bad history was now that, history. 

But between their long disappearance, their change of hairstyles, their fully grown bodies and their different behaviors towards each other, the most shocking part of all the changes that happened was that. . .

Hawk Moth never came back. 

Ladybug knew why.

Marinette knew why. 

Charlotte knew why.

Adrien had been on a business trip to New York, most likely also meeting up with Nino, when Mari went over to the Agreste mansion with Charlotte because grandpa really wanted to see her and show her some new clothes he had made her. 

Marinette had let three year old Charlotte wonder a bit, while she talked with Gabriel about Charlotte’s far too big wardrobe, when they heard the noise of something large opening and Charlotte yelling in excitement.

What Marinette found was not pleasing, but it was sorta exciting. 

Years of searching and here it was.

Here he was.

Right under her nose. 

To say there was shame in Gabriel’s face at what the girls discovered was an understatement.

He told them over and over again that he hasn’t used it, that he hasn’t done anything since before Charlotte. Something Marinette knew. 

He told them he would never do it now with Charlotte in the picture. He didn’t want to put her in any danger. 

And Marinette asked the question. That one questioned he would rather not ever have to answer it.

“Why should I believe you? You put Adrien in so much danger. You nearly killed your own son a few times, just for a pair of earrings and a ring.”

“I. . . I was grief ridden, and. . . he looks so much like her. It had become too hard at one point to look past that. I think that’s maybe why I pushed him away. I forced myself to stop caring and focus on those-. . .”

The look her gave her didn’t make her feel any more comfortable. Not in the least when she realized that very few people know where her miraculous is:

The Miraculous holders. (Whether they want to admit it or not, Hawk Moth is one of them.)

Master Fu.

And the Kwamis

The Akuma’s forget everything that happens after they get purified, so they forget where their miraculous is. 

The fact that Marinette explicitly said she knew where the main two miraculous were was. . . 

Gabriel stared intensely at her, clearly trying to put her face, her body, her hair, into any of the suits. It didn’t take long. Even if there are two miraculous with blue eyes, only one of them has her dark black hair. 

“Well lucky me. Ladybug herself discovered my lair.”

Marinette stayed silent. Gabriel stared at her, feeling a bit of resentment but not being able to hold on to it as Marinette held on to Charlotte. 

“That’s why Ladybug took a break. She was a little busy being a mother.”

“I was a little busy being pregnant and recovering from it. Being a mother isn’t going to stop me from protecting Paris and keeping this place a safe place for my daughter.”

“A safe place from me?”

Marinette wanted to say yes, but he hasn’t attacked. Not even after she and Chat went back. 

Gabriel nodded, “I won’t hurt her. I know I messed up and now. . . Charlotte. . . I’ll make up for it.” 

Marinette nodded slowly, not seeing anything hidden in his statement. He. Hasn’t. Attacked! He clearly means it. His shame is obvious. 

“Please don’t tell Adrien. . . Or your other friends.”

“My friends. . . that depends… But I won’t tell Adrien. I’m not that cruel to just go and tell Adrien that his own father almost killed him a few times just because he wanted to accessorize.” 

“I had real reasons! . . . You spend too much time around that cat.” 

“Yeah, but … it’s definitely much easier to deal with this problem with his sense of humor than just. . . go ahead and drop Charlotte and punch you until you choke on your own blood, because that’s what I want to do right now.” 

Gabriel nodded, motioning for them to leave.

Marinette didn’t ask for the Butterfly Miraculous. Ladybug didn’t tell anyone she knew where it was.

The other Miraculous were only allowed to be permanent because of the constant threat of Hawk Moth. Marinette and Chat only got theirs because of him. Not one of them would be happy for this to be over and to give up the hero life. And it’s not like it’s hurting anyone. If anything, the fact that they still can use their miraculous and go around patrol had made Paris a safer city. This is a good lie. 

At least that’s what she told herself. 

“I miss when people were less scared of us.” Whined Chat, laying back on the platform, bored.

“You mean criminals.”

“Yeah. There was more to do back then. Now they just don’t bother, and that’s not fun.” 

“They do. But rarely when we are patrolling. They mostly pick days that we are not.” Ladybug said, giving in and settling back next to him.

Chat began muttering to himself, “We patrol on Saturday nights, Bee patrols on Mondays and Wednesday, and Foxy patrols on the two T’s. . . That leaves Fridays and Sundays to fuck around. And Sunday is Church Day, and a lot of people here still do that. So that leaves Fridays. Which is party day because the work week is over, so when-”

“The bold guys who do crimes in plain daylight, Chat. We only patrol at night.”

“Because night is the most dangerous! That’s when the pervs come out!” Chat looked at her confused, they had all picked to patrol at night so that it wouldn’t intervene with their jobs and school when they were still doing that, but the truth is that nighttime is the bad time so it also makes sense that they patrol at night. The French police can take care of the regular day criminals. As long as the miraculous can scare away all the pervs, rapist, etc at night, they were good. 

“Then why don’t we station ourselves near clubs and bars?” Ladybug asked, sitting up to look down at Paris, trying to pinpoint the nearest club or bar. 

“Because there are too many. We can’t be everywhere at once. The only way that would work is if we all patrol together and spread ourselves around the city. But we can’t patrol everyday.”

Ladybug nodded, that couldn't be more true. Everyone around her would become way too suspicious of her every night ‘job’. 

Chat sighed nostalgically, “Remember when we used to only come out when there was an Akuma attack? Those were good days.”

Ladybug gasped, “Wh- What?”

“Back then I wasn’t really allowed to go out. I would hope so badly for an Akuma attack just so that I could escape and stretch my muscles. It’s sad on so many levels, but strangely enough, those are stored under my ‘good childhood memories’ bank.” 

“Oh Chat!” Ladybug said pitying him, she laid back down next to him, trying to hug him close, “You poor street cat being forced to be an indoor cat. You’re only making me hate your father more.”

Chat shrugged into the awkward sideways hug, “Eh, he’s good now. Pays. . . sorta close attention to my well being and asks how I’m feeling. He appears to love my girlfriend more though.” 

Ladybug pulled away from the hug, laying flat next to him, staring up at the stars. “. . . That’s sad.”

He shrugged. . . “There are supposed to be a million- hell, billion- hell, an indefinite amount of stars in the sky right now. . . And we can’t even see five. That’s sad. Sad that kids today can’t see the stars unless they go to the countryside.”

“Are you really trying to distract me from your child abuse by talking about light contamination?”

“I love the stars. I used to read books about them, and see many pictures about how they looked on the countryside and how pretty the constellations are, I even asked my dad for a telescope to look at them from my room. That was the only way I could see them. Big windows and a balcony, and the only way I could see the stars was with a telescope. . . There were nights when I couldn’t even see the moon even though it was a near full moon night. . .”

“. . . Well it almost worked. Now I’m sad about your childhood and the sky.”

Chat laughed. “Sorry.” 

They stayed silent for a few more minutes, basking in the feel of the night and the noises of the streets.

They listened in to the excited noises of tourist down bellow. 

“Don’t you sometimes wish you could forget you lived here and see this all from a new set of eyes?” 

Asked Chat quietly.

Ladybug stayed silent for a bit, “. . . Forget all the corruption? The crimes? How horrible people can be? Still see Paris through the rose-tinted glasses they wear? . . . No. Living like that is dangerous. I’m glad I know what hell this city is so I know what to protect my little girl from.”

Even with their new friends status, even with the even bigger commodity they had with each other… 

They had never talked about her child. She knew that he knew. He mentioned it once when they met again, saying that Bee couldn’t help herself and told him. She sometimes wondered what kind of friendship Chloe had with Chat and how did she know him personally. 

“. . . She’s a girl?”

Ladybug stayed silent for a minute before sighing. Keeping big secrets like this one almost broke them once, “Yes. I have a daughter. We don’t have to talk about thi-”

“No I’m fine. I have one of my own.”

Ladybug paused, “Wh-... what do you mean you have a daughter?”

“I have a . . . sorta daughter, like . . .emotionally I’ll hurt anyone who claims she’s not mine. But I’m not her real father. I’m just a step-in dad.”

“You’re a step-father. That’s the word you’re looking for.”

“I’m not married to her. And while technically my daughter has my surname, and I adopted her, the term to use is not step-father.”

“The daughter has your surname, but your girlfriend doesn’t?” She asked baffled. “I thought it was marriage and then the baby.”

“Look who’s talking. Anyway. I don’t want to rush our relationship. She’s making a name of herself in her business, and I personally want to wait till our little girl is old enough to walk down the aisle as the flower girl, instead of someone carry her down the aisle. . . Maybe I’ll do it soon...”

Ladybug nodded, staying silent for a few before realizing that while Chat had kept his daughter a secret, she kept Adrien as her secret. That didn’t stop her from asking,

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a step-daughter?” She whispered.

“My daughter! And why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to find out from Bee?”

Many reasons! Oh so many reasons! To start, you were angry with me to the point of not wanting to see me again and I had no intentions of bringing my little girl into that ambience. She deserves a loving family, not a family that half hates each other. Second. . . Friends and nothing more! Third, I was not emotionally ready for you to only come back because of a baby, and not me. That would have been shit. And. . . no! I wasn’t going to do that to neither me, or Charlotte!

“Because of our break up. I didn’t think you would have wanted to hear that I. . .” 

He gave a low laugh, “Moved on? We both did Lady. A long time ago. Enough time for you to tell me. Like maybe when you had come back?” 

She scoffed, “Well why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugged, “I guess I enjoy keeping her all to myself. . . I also want to protect her from the evil of this world. It almost makes me understand why my father kept me locked up in my room. This world is too cruel for her beautiful mind.”

She nodded.

“Plus you were acting weird when you came back, and I figured it had something to do with me, so I wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire.”

“Yeah that too.” She whispered. 

They talked about everything and nothing for another hour before they both excused themselves, needing to go back to their families.

When Marinette finally got back to the Dupain-Cheng home Charlotte was already asleep.

“She tried waiting but apparently she wore herself out playing with daddy earlier.” Explained Tom.

Mari looked at her little girl cuddled up on the sofa, and felt a tight knot on her chest, wanting to tell Chat about his little angel right here but. . . she never got ‘the balls’ to do it. 

Sabine came down from her room, “How was Paris tonight? Any danger?”

Marinette shook her head.

With Charlotte explicitly hearing Gabriel call her Ladybug, and him basically confess that he was Hawk Moth, all in front of a three year old! Of course, there were a few casualties. Luckily the only ones who Charlotte had a chance to tell had been grandmama and grandpapa. After a long talk with her parents, Mari sat Charlotte down and repeated to her over and over again that she couldn't tell anyone else about it. Not even daddy. Charlotte didn’t like it, but after the 22nd time she finally accepted. 

“A little boring if I’m being honest.”

Tom laughed, “That’s exactly what you’ve said the past two months.” 

She shrugged, “Well it’s the truth. I kinda got used to giving myself a good workout.” 

“Tell your butterfly buddy to mess stuff up then.” Said Sabine sarcastically. Sabine had not been happy that Mari was keeping his identity to herself -and the Dupain-Chengs-. 

“Momma. He hasn’t done anything in over four years. He kept his promise.”

“But until when?” Sabine questioned.

Mari shook her head, “I have to go get dinner.” 

Mari picked Charlotte up, who everyday was getting a little harder to carry, grabbed her bags and left after saying goodbye to her sappy pappa and her disgruntled mamma.

On the ride home Tikki came out of her purse, “She’s right. You can’t keep him a secret forever.”

“The Miraculous was stolen from Master Fu. It could be stolen again if I bring it back by someone who won’t care that I have a baby. At least in Gabriel’s possession it won’t be used and no one will be able to steal it.”

“He also has the peacock.” Tikki whispered.

Mari nodded, “And that one is safe too in his vault. No one will steal either of them.”

“Mari-”

“Master Fu is old, Tikki! Master Fu wasn’t able to keep that one safe a long time ago, and he sure as hell won’t be able to now. Until Carapace comes back we can’t do anything. When he comes back he’ll become the master and I’ll ask Gabriel for the Miraculous and problem solved. Okay?”

Tikki nodded, moving to the back seat and cuddling with Charlotte. 

Mari didn’t like to yell at Tikki, but this was an old argument that had quickly gotten old. 

Finally arriving home, Tikki immediately went into her purse as Adrien came out to help Mari with the food and Charlotte. 

After a short and quiet dinner and after putting Charlotte in bed, Mari laid in bed, waiting for Adrien to finish dressing after his shower.

“Yeah, whatever. Listen, you could wear jeans for all I care. I already told you where we are going. That’s your problem if one of the best designers in Agreste decides to dress down for a five star restaurant. But for sure,” Adrien’s head peaked from the walk-in closet doors, “The less material your underwear has, the better. I’m perfectly fine with no underwear as well.” 

Adrien dodged back in as Mari threw a pillow at him. “Hurry up so I can turn off the lights. I’m tired.”

After putting on some pajama bottoms, and making sure all the lights in the house were off, Adrien settled in bed, getting as comfortable as possible before Marinette basically half climbed on him, and cuddled him. 

“We need to get you a body pillow.”

“I already have one. And this one comes heated.” 

Adrien softly laughed, kissing her forehead and turning off the lamps.

“Good night Chanel.”

“Goodnight Banana Head.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what ya think.  
> Did it suck? Were you confused? Was it good? More sex? "Instead of insinuating sex how about you actually write the sex!"? "GET THEM TOGETHER"? "LET CHAT KNOW HE HAS A DAUGHTER!!!"?  
> I love to read those. . . :/  
> All I'm saying is that by now you guys should know what kind of story this is. He will not know until it is convenient for me! >;D  
> But he will know. Don't worry. I have everything after he finds out sorta figured out. All I need to figure out is what causes him to . . . figure it out. I have two options and I'm still trying to decide between them both. 
> 
> Anyway. . . "IT SUCKED BECAUSE CHAT STILL DOESN'T KNOW"? "I CRIED, I WANT THEM TO KNOW!"? "MARI IS A BITCH, #TEAM CHAT"? "CHAT NEEDS TO LEARN WHAT PRIORITIES ARE. #TEAM MARI"?
> 
> Let me know!


	7. Can I steal a movie title? ... I will: 'The Proposal'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... what the title says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want my summaries and titles to remain awkward. And even if I had the chance to actually publish this as a book, the titles have to remain as awkward. 
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the delay. Had writer's block and... I forgot about this story. (This is why I ask for comments. I have the memory of a goldfish. A constant stream of comments -1 every few days- keeps this story in my mind.) 
> 
> Edit: Finally, the last edited chapter. Now you can read the new chapter.
> 
> Enjoy.

For only being eight am, the airport was much more active than it usually was when he traveled, but today was Sunday . . . so of course there were more travelers. 

There were very few businessmen traveling that day. He kind of missed it. When he traveled -surprisingly enough- it was always less hectic due to the crowd and type of people he seemed to always travel with. 

Having been here just a few days prior he could notice the difference with traveling early on weekdays and traveling on weekends.

He looked down, making sure the little ball of energy was still by his side.

Charlie was enjoying waving at every sleepy child that was coming in and pointing out all the colorful bags that people were carrying. 

He didn’t like to come to the airport or travel on weekends. 

But Nino was coming in today. 

Charlie gasped, “Daddy look! Anoner Ladybug bag!”

Adrien nodded, looking in the crowd for his best friend, “Yes honey. Another Ladybug suitcase. Very pretty.” 

Adrien didn’t see but heard her huff in frustration as she pulled at his arm, “I knew you weren’t looking. That was a Chat Noir one and you missed it. You like Chat Noir.” 

He looked down to see a pouting Charlie with her arms crossed. He smiled and grabbed her hand again, definitely not wanting to lose her here, “I’m sorry sweetie, but I’m looking for uncle Nino. Remember? We’re taking him home.”

Charlie nodded, biting her lip and looking around, “How does Uncle Nino look like?” 

“Tall, dark and handsome.” Adrien laughed under his breath before shaking his head. Charlie wouldn’t understand that reference or why it was funny. Was this his first dad joke?

“How dak?” 

Adrien remembered early on showing Charlie pictures of all her family to get her familiarized. . . He couldn’t remember why they stopped. Adrien still tried to talk with Nino at least once a month -busy schedules and different time zones- and they had a few video chats here and there, but they were always too late for Charlie -way past her bedtime-. “Like coffee with milk. Like mommy drinks it.” 

Charlie looked up to him, “. . .Mommy doesn’t dlink coffee.”

“She does, she. . . drowns it whip cream. . . Okay,” He knelt down in front of her, “Darker than us, lighter than auntie Alya.” Adrien smiled as Charlie nodded and turned around, like it was her very important mission to find her uncle. 

“Brown eyes,” Charlie continue nodding as he kept describing Nino to her, “Large-ish nose. . . most likely wearing headphones. . .”

They stood close to the doors of the luggage claim, looking and looking before Charlie got tired and begged to be carried. It was fair, he had woken her up far too early in hopes of beating traffic and getting there on time. But Adrien was now very suspicious on whether Nino’s plane actually arrived on time. 

After watching another batch leave the airport Adrien got tired and sat by on a bench, murmuring to Charlie to keep her awake and half heartedly looking for Nino. He figures Nino will call him. 

Adrien was paying attention to Charlie who was telling him a story about this german shepherd that had climbed into their backyard a week prior to his return and took a swim in their pool for an hour before the owner finally came to claim him but not before jumping out, shaking his fur and getting Marinette and Charlie wet and stinky, all before they had to go out to a school meeting. 

It was a great story and Adrien wanted to hear more about how the headmistress reacted to the two stinky girls, but then he heard someone call his name. 

“Adrien! Holy shit, dude! There you are! It’s been a year!” 

Adrien looked up to see Nino crashing through the crowd to get to them, waving and looking more excited than he has ever seen him before. He was right, it had been a year since he last saw him, and four since he’s been home. Adrien got homesick after two days in Japan, he can’t even begin to imagine how Nino must feel. 

“Nino! What happened? Why were you so late?” Adrien stood up, still carrying Charlie, and walked to meet him farther away from the busy exit. 

“Dude! This pregnant lady on the plane, she just popped and started giving birth right there in the airplane. When we finally landed it took them like. . . an hour to get her and the baby out safely and to clean the bloody mess nobody wanted to step on. And sadly, I was in the back. And then baggage claim took about half an hour to finally drop our luggage and I had to fight this lady for my bag that she was claiming was hers, but my bag has that vinyl record patch that Alya got me, so I know for sure that’s my bag. And. . . yeah.” 

Adrien smiled and shook his head, “Never a boring moment with you.” 

“Yeah, watching that woman give birth was an experience…” Nino tried to smile but ended up grimacing at the ground, probably remembering it. 

“I wouldn’t know.” 

“I thought you were dating Mari when she gave birth.” 

Adrien shrugged as Nino picked his bag again and they began to make their way out, Adrien’s arm beginning to cramp with carrying Charlie who was nuzzled on his shoulder, most likely trying to take a nap. “Yeah, but her mother was the one who went in for the birth. I was called after.”

“Huh.” 

“Have you looked for apartments yet?”

Nino gave a quick laugh, “Already trying to kick me out? I haven’t even gotten to your house yet.” 

Adrien laughed, “No. We don’t mind lending you our guest bedroom for now. But Chloe is changing apartments to one closer to her school, and it’s a really nice apartment, I’m sure you’d like it.” 

Nino shrugged, “I’ll check it out. If rich barbie liked it, I don’t see why I won’t. I have to go to an interview first. Tomorrow.”

Adrien began to fumble in his pockets looking for his car keys, “Tomorrow? You already have a job interview?”

“I’ve been buttering these people up for two years, doing internships with their American branch and sending them countless emails to get an interview in this branch. Technically this interview was supposed to happen last week.” 

“Huh. Okay. Do you have a ride?” Adrien said, opening the back door to strap Charlie in. 

“I’ll take a taxi. I’ll have to talk to my dad about giving me my old car back.” Nino answered, holding the door for him.

Adrien put Charlie down as he went in to detangle her seatbelt on her car seat when he heard Charlie say sleepily, “Hi! I’m Chalotte. You uncle Nino?” 

Nino appeared to stutter as he replied, “U-uh- Yeah. I-I am. And y-you are?”

Adrien backed out of the car and gave a confused look to Nino, looking down to see Charlie giving him the same look. 

“Wow.” Nino whispered. 

Charlie turned and climbed into the car waiting for her dad to strap her in. “I’m hungry. Can we get McDonalds?”

Adrien heard Nino get in the passenger seat as he strapped her in, “No. Mommy made lunch.”

“Mommy didn’t make lunch. Mommy said she was going to auntie Alya’s apartment to get leady for tonight.”

Adrien nodded, “Alright, we’ll get something quick.”

He closed the door and got into the driver seat, getting ready to leave. 

“Hey- uh- . . . nevermind.”

He looked at Nino, and shrugged, figuring whatever he wanted to say he would say it when he felt comfortable. 

Apparently that was when Charlie fell asleep. 

Nino had just finished dropping his bags in his room while Adrien set a sleeping Charlie in hers, afterwards making his way down to the living room.

He had barely walked into the threshold of the living room when Nino looked up and asked, “Is she your daughter?”

“. . . I feel the need to say yes, but I also feel that that’s not the question your asking.”

Nino stood up, walking towards him, looking like a man who had just discovered a conspiracy and he had to get to the bottom of it, “I mean did you and Mari do it and . . . is she yours?” 

Adrien tried to laugh but came out more like two huffs of air, “Don’t you think we’d have two?” 

Nino shrugged, “With the way I was kept out of the loop I wouldn’t have been surprised if Mari had lost her baby and I didn’t hear anything about it. Just like how I also wouldn’t have been surprised if you got her pregnant right after,” He said like he didn’t care before going back into panic mode, “Is she yours?” 

“No. She’s. . . Mari’s and. . . mystery daddy.” He said uncomfortably.

“. . . Are you sure?” Nino didn’t seem to believe it.

“Why?” 

“Because besides her hair, she has your face. She looks just like you but with Mari’s hair, lips and freckles.” 

Adrien shrugged, “Then I guess Mari has a type.” 

“Dude!”

Adrien sighed, “What Nino!? Don’t you think I would remember sleeping with Mari?” 

Nino looked to the side before shrugging, “. . . I wouldn’t be surprised.” 

“Don’t you think Mari would have told me?” 

“With how distracted and clumsy she is? I. Wouldn’t. Be. Surprised.” 

Adrien sighed heavily, walking towards the kitchen to look for his phone to call for Kim, “Come on, you can’t be here when Alya arrives to pick up Charlie.”

“... Where am I going?” 

“You can take this afternoon to talk to your dad about your car. Or hang out with Kim and Max. You decide. But you can’t be here tonight, I’ll pick you up tomorrow and take you to work, I promise.” 

Nino walked towards the stairs to look for a change of clothes, “Going to try and make another Charlotte with Mari tonight?” 

“. . . T-take a step back.” Adrien said, trying to appear not nervous. 

Nino paused halfway up the stairs and turned, a big smile on his face as he stared down at Adrien, “Take a step back, like. . . before babies come marriage?” 

Adrien huffed, “Calm down.” 

Nino did the complete opposite, running down the stairs to hug Adrien, “You’re gonna propose to Mari tonight?!” 

“I said calm down! I’m freaking out about it as it is! I don’t need you to make a bigger deal about it!” 

Nino pulled back, trying to make his smile smaller as he nodded, knowing how easy it was for Adrien to start panicking, “You’re right. It’s not big deal. You’re just going on a date with Mari tonight, and you’re just gonna propose. No big deal. Quick and easy. Say what you feel and get it quickly out of the way. You can do this.” 

Adrien nodded to everything he said before pausing, “Did you just give me a pep talk?” 

“Do you need another?” Nino said quickly, with dead serious look on his face.

Adrien shook his head, “No. I’m already feeling better, don’t worry.” 

“Okay, but can I just say two last things?” 

Adrien nodded.

“. . . You look like your dressed blindly, so change for tonight, and Charlotte looks like she’s your daughter.” He said rapidly before running away to look for his change of clothes. 

Adrien huffed, shaking his head as he looked for Kim’s contact number.

There were bigger things to worry about today. 

Tonight was gonna be a big night.

\--

At the sound of keys opening the front door Adrien rushed out of the bedroom, leaving Plagg to rest -hide- inside an old leather laptop backpack that he didn’t use but Mari knew not to throw out. Apparently Plagg liked the warmth that the backpack housed, and the leather managed to contain the smell of his cheese somewhat well . . . well better than the canvas bag he used to hide in. 

“I left her dressed and ready in my apartment- Oh hey Charlotte!” 

He made his way downstair just in time to see Charlie pounce on her aunt and ‘knock’ her down. 

Alya looked up from the ground, giving him a smile she only used when Charlie was around, “Well don’t you look handsome.” 

“Thanks. Sleep before ten.” 

Alya grumbled as she stood up, pulling Charlie up with her, “I’ll go to sleep whenever I please. I’m a grown butt woman! I’ve earned my right to choose my bed time!” 

Making sure she had a tight grip on Charlie on her hip she looked at her, “You on the other hand will have to go to bed before ten.” 

“No. I’m gonna be awake until momma and daddy get home!” 

“Well, back luck for you sweetie, because we’re staying in my apartment tonight.”

Adrien grabbed his keys, wallet, and the umbrella before turning to her, “Her bag is almost ready in her room, all that’s missing is the toiletries. Lock the house when you leave, and please! Please don’t leave any light on!”

“Geez, it’s not like you have problem paying for the utilities. You bathe in money.” 

“And I don’t want to waste it otherwise on paying for utilities no one is using. I don’t go to your apartment and leave your faucets on. Leave my lights off!” 

Adrien opened the door and was about to close it behind him when he heard her yell, “Don’t forget your viagra!”

“Not funny!” He closed the door and ran to the car. The sky was much darker than any other person would prefer. He on the other hand felt that the possible storm was perfect.

As he picked up Mari a light rain had begun to fall, making Mari run to the car in heels and a fluffy skirt, which he just couldn’t stop laughing about.

“It was like seeing a cupcake running in the rain!” 

She huffed looking out the window, “Sounds like someone wants to keep himself dry between his legs.” 

“Sounds like someone's bargaining with sex.”

“More like blackmailing but ok.” She shrugged. 

He laughed a bit longer before letting out a joyful sigh and taking a quick look at her, “But seriously. You look adorable. I prefer your hair wavy.”

“When it's this short it's not wavy, its curly.” 

He nodded, “You got it from your dad right? Because asian…”

She slowly started quietly laughing as Adrien stopped himself from the stereotype he was about to tell her. “Asian can curl. And no, my mom aint that kind of asian. So yeah, maybe I got it from my dad.” 

“Sorry.”

She shrugged, smiling, “It's okay. I rather you ask me privately about these perceptions rather than just… share them and be wrong in public. Now I’ve corrected you and now you know that asian can curl. But I just stayed wavy.” 

“I like it. It makes you look adorable.” 

“I thought that was a word specifically reserved for Charlotte.” She teased.

“You made Charlotte. Charlotte is you 2.0. Both of you is adorable.”

“Charlotte might be more french than I am. And this version came with green eyes, so … Not a perfect copy.” 

Adrien stayed quiet for a few minutes before finally braving, “You don’t even know his ethnicity?” 

“I know he’s french. I just don’t know if he’s mixed like me. Who knows. Maybe she’s half french, 1 quarter chinese, 1 quarter … swedish? Who knows.” 

Adrien gasped, “And if she marries a guy who’s mixed too that baby could be all kinds of mixed! In a few generations we could have a entirely multinational great great great grandkid! Imagine! A kid that is all nationalities!” 

“... Yeah,” She said slowly, “... Let her choose who she wants to marry ok?” 

He nodded.

He drove through the rain for a few minutes, slowly as to not lose control of the car, before Mari whispered, “Our grandkids?” 

He sighed, smiling, “Even if you decide to leave me, I still adopted Charlie. She’s still my kid. It would still be our grandkids.” 

Mari nodded, spacing off and looking out the window, most likely fabricating the future scenario in where they’re both together, old, with their grandkids. She loves to create fantasies. 

After a nice, quiet dinner -twice interrupted by Alya with worries of Charlie coughing, and once from Nino who informed him that he was staying at his parents that night and that they would drive him to the interview tomorrow-, Adrien drove Mari around, taking advantage of her being distractedly chatting away about the sewing machine explosions that happened while he was gone, to take her back somewhere, hoping to not raise any suspicions about his plans with the destination. 

Halfway there Mari noticed they weren’t driving home, but did nothing more than have a short pause to acknowledge it before going back to her theory about who caused the explosions. 

Once they arrived, he drove around the building, parking at the employe’s parking lot, getting out of the car and being sort of grateful the rain had ceased for the moment. 

Mari got out of the car, closing the door behind her, and stared at the building, waiting for Adrien.

Adrien grabbed the umbrella from the backseat before locking the car and leading her towards the building.

“What? Wasn’t running away from photoshoots and curfew in your youth enough rebellion for you?” 

Adrien shrugged as he opened the back door of the facility for her, holding tight to the umbrella as thunder roared loud above. Guess the rain break is soon to be over.

“Why are we breaking into our old school?” 

“Well,” Technically it wasn't breaking in; he had the key, Damocles gave him a pass for tonight, but for now he wanted to appear a bit more badass than he actually was, “Reasons.”

She looked back at him as she walked ahead, letting nostalgia lead her, “Reasons? Care to share them?”

“It felt right.” He said vaguely as they made their way up the stairs.

She sighed looking around the courtyard before entering their old homeroom, “Breaking and entering should never feel right.” 

Adrien shrugged, following close behind her, “I don't know. I guess I just wanted to take a trip down memory lane and go back to the place where we first met.” 

Mari stopped, looking back at him before looking at the chairs he was staring at, a small reminiscent smile on her face as she shook her head, “God was I stupid.”

He laughed softly as he pulled her into his arms, smiling down at her, “No you weren’t.”

“I nearly bit your head off on your first day of school!” 

“You thought I was pulling a prank on you. It's not your fault. It looked like I was. It was all a matter of perception.” 

She laughed drily as she shook her head, “And mean old me almost didn’t give you a chance to explain your side of the story.” She looked down, grimacing, as though she was remember an entirely different conversation. 

He on the other hand internally flinched as Ladybug immediately came to mind. 

Wow, was he a hypocrite. 

He sighed shaking that thought away, “All because Chloe wanted to play a prank on you.” 

She stayed silent for a while before sighing and leaning into his embrace, “And now we’re best friends?” 

The feeling of her in his arms managed to calm down the butterflies that were eating him alive at that moment as he smiled down at her, “Things change. Chloe was jealous of you. You were angry at me. And I was a stupid boy who didn’t see perfection even when it tried to hit me in the face.” 

She let out a breath of air, “I’m not perfect, and I never tried to hit you on the face. It’s too pretty. I wouldn’t do that… At least not back then when I was fourteen.”

“Not even when you were angry at me?”

“Nah, I would have just found another way to get back at you. Like. . . find a way to let everyone know how shitty you were as a person? That’s what I did with Chloe.”

“And now you’re best friends.” 

She nodded, looking out the window, “And now we’re best friends.” 

They both stayed silent for a few minutes before Mari shuddered, pulling away and began to make her way out of the room.

“What?” 

“This room reminds me of too many Akuma attacks. Plenty of which I don’t want to remember.”

He nodded and followed her out, closing the door behind him. 

She waited for him by the stairs looking grim as she shook her head at a memory, “Poor Ivan.”

Adrien turned around, almost expecting Ivan to actually be there, before looking back at her confused.

“He was the first victim. There was no one before him. He had no idea what was happening to him. I can’t even begin to imagine how freaked out he must have been.” She paused, sighing at the memory, “Heartbroken because of a misunderstanding, angry at himself and then. . . out of nowhere, possesed. And when he came back, everyone was a little bit more scared of him. Everyone stayed a little bit too scared of him until the second Akuma attack happened, and people only began to finally treat him as a victim after the fifth Akuma attack. It wasn’t his fault, and yet for a few months, everyone thought him a monster.”

Adrien placed his hand on her shoulder to bring her back from the worry trip she was on.

She sighed, “I’m just saying, Akuma victims need . . . their own kind of therapy? Yes, I understand there are families that have actually lost their family members in those few last years, and they need emotional support as well. But . . . the Akuma victims… many of them were forced and/or coerced to do things that they would never do, then they wake up, have no memory of it, and then everyone is staring at you like you’re devil incarnate. And they treat them as such for a while before they forget. They need their own emotional support group.” 

“. . . Have you tried talking to Alya about it?” 

She nodded.

“And she has refused to.” He finished.

“She feels like she would be the only one. She doesn’t understand, or doesn’t seem to want to understand that just about all of the Akuma victims feel the same way she does.”

“. . . I could talk to Chloe.”

Mari scoffed, “Please, Chloe’s more proud than Alya. And Alya’s mad at Nino right now so he won’t work either.” 

“If I tell any of them it's a group thing it might work. The problem is she doesn’t want to be the only one, right? I know a way I can convince Chloe. And Chloe and Alya have this ‘single ladies’ bond, so Alya will listen to Chloe. Alya doesn’t listen to you just because-. . . because-”

“Because I was never akumatized.” She nodded, looking like she hated herself for it before looking at him, “And neither were you. Chloe’s gonna react the same way.” 

“Alya only reacts that way because she feels you don’t understand. And in a way, we never will. But Chloe will listen to me. I promise.” He said extending his hand at her.

She nodded, grabbing it and following him down the stairs. She turned to try and go back to where they came from but he pulled her towards the front doors. 

She was about to ask him something when he pulled out the keys from his pocket and opened the door, “So, that’s how you opened the back door.” 

“No. I’m just very good at lockpicking.” 

She giggled as she followed him out, waiting for him to open the umbrella as the storm seemed to have started and lived up to its expectations in their time inside the school. Even in the shade they were getting wet.

She grabbed the umbrella from him quickly as a wind picked up and briefly showered her and opened it. “You know, they day I met you was also the day I met Alya.” 

“And now… now she’s your maid of honor.” For a moment he wondered if she knew and was throwing him a bone.

She shrugged, looking out at the lone passing car that sprayed the front courtyard, “Someday.”

“Today.” He said beginning to kneel down beside her and pulling at the ring in his pocket, undoing the chain and pulling it out.

She turned to look at him confused before gasping and nearly dropping the umbrella as she covered her mouth with her left hand in surprise. 

“Tonight.” 

He could see a smile hidden behind her hand as she shook her head, “You motherfucker… this wasn’t a spontaneous trip back to school was it?” 

He shook his head, reaching out for her hand.

She shook her head and laughed briefly, dropping her left hand in his outstretched hand.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you do this old blind idiot again the honors of agreeing to be my bride until the day you walk down the aisle-”

“Are you seriously recycling that speech you gave me when you asked me to be your girlfriend?” She said laughing.

“Hey I’m recycling the scenery, you really thought I was gonna stop at that?”

She laughed, “Oh merci, why am I in love with an idiot?”

He laughed, “Listen, I’m just trying to give you a good story to tell everyone when they ask ‘how did he propose?’”

She nodded, “And what am I supposed to tell them?” 

He smiled, rubbing her hand with both of his, “That after dinner I took you back to our college to take a trip down memory lane. I took you to the place where we met before taking you here to the place where you forgave me-”

“The place where I first fell in love with you.”

He paused before smiling, he knew she had loved him when they were young, but he didn’t know this bit of information. For him this place meant forgiveness and beginnings.

He nodded, still smiling, giddy with this new information, “The place where you forgave me, fell in love with me and gave me a chance to be your friend. Then-”

He paused as she shuddered, “Sorry, just had flashbacks from when you told the fencing girl that I was ‘just a friend’.”

“You were there?” 

She nodded.

“Oh. . . Uh, back to forgiving me. Uhm. Then I got down on one knee, ignoring how wet the floor was and that in this position the umbrella doesn’t cover me at all.”

She laughed enjoying how Adrien only seemed to get wetter. She knelt down in front of him, shielding him with the umbrella, pausing before shaking her head, “And that’s why you brought this umbrella. Did you know it was gonna rain today? Did you plan that as well?” 

“I can’t control the weather. I’m not that rich. And I wasn't even going to propose today. I had this planned for a month from now when things settled down with Charlie. I just couldn’t control myself, plus I saw on the weather channel that a rain was possibly coming today and thought ‘I might not get this lucky again.’”

Mari shook her head, “I should have known something was up, you never carry umbrellas.”

Surprisingly enough, what she said was true. After Charlie came into his life he became a little irresponsible with himself, focusing more on making sure everything was okay with Charlie before they left. On plenty of occasions Adrien has had to use his jackets to shield himself from the rain, and on most recent cases, the tiny unicorn umbrella Charlie has in his car. 

“Yeah. You see I only had one umbrella. And then I gave it to this girl, and she never gave it back, and I just never bothered to buy a new one.” 

She gave a short laugh, looking at him, “What a mean girl that must have been to steal your umbrella.” 

“Yeah, but then she gave me her home, and a chance to be part of her family, so. . . to be fair I owe her.” 

“You don’t owe me anything ever.” She whispered.

He shrugged, “Plus she lets me sleep with her.”

She started laughing again.

“Usually people have to pay millions to sleep with a goddess like her, all I gave her was a fifteen euro umbrella. I owe her a wedding and a great future.”

“You don’t owe me-”

“Mari.”

She paused, smiling.

“. . . Don’t tell everyone about the prostitution part. Just I went from the umbrella to asking you to marry me.”

She burst out laughing again. She nodded, “I could just skip the entire umbrella thing.” 

He smiled as he shook his head, “Nah. The fact that you still have this umbrella means a lot to me.”

He sighed and shook himself before grabbing her hand again, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you do this old blind idiot-”

“I’ll marry you! Please don’t give me the speech again!” She exclaimed laughing.

“Goddammit, but I’ve spent the past three months rehearsing it.” He muttered. 

She sighed before kissing him. 

Feeling her lips against his, her arms around his neck and the promise of a future together in the air Adrien had never felt happier than in this very moment. 

“Left hand.” He said muffled against her lips.

She pulled away, “Why- oh right.” 

She hid her face in embarrassment as he placed the rose gold ring on her finger. 

As per Alya’s suggestion, he had picked a simple rose gold band with a simple round onyx stone in the middle to match her permanent earrings and so that she could wear it with anything. Gotta be conscious of the fact that he was marrying a fashion designer and she was constantly her own model. 

“I know it's simple-”

“I love it,” She whispered admiring the ring, “Diamonds are overrated.”

“Originally I wanted a sapphire or a topaz to match your eyes, but I was told it didn’t look good with rose gold, and I really wanted you to have rose gold because my mom always used to say that rose gold was the best gold. Then I remembered your earrings and I figured I can make it look like a set.”

She smiled before giving him a quick kiss, “You over thought this too much. Honestly, you could have bought me a ten euro ring from Walmart and I would still marry you tomorrow.”

He shook his head, a tight smile on his lips, “No you wouldn’t. You would say yes and hint at me for months to get you a better ring. Your fashion ass wouldn’t have felt satisfied with a crap ring.” 

Mari shrugged, cupping his face and bringing it close to hers, “Well that’s why I’m marrying you. Because you know me better than I know myself.” 

He smiled into the kiss, enjoying the bliss, completely ignoring to the umbrella that was rolling into the school and the increasing wetness of them both. 

\--

As soon as they got home Adrien regretted the rain when in the middle of a heated make out/undress session he sneezed. . . on her face. 

They both paused in the midst of it, in shock.

She scoffed, nodding at the irony of it, “Talk about sexy!”

“I’m so sorry!” He desperately whispered. 

She shook her head, pulling away and heading to the bathroom, “I’m gonna wash my face, take off my make-up and go downstairs to get you some medicine. You find something warm and take a warm shower.” 

“We can take it toge-”

“At least one of has to remain healthy to take care of the other two. And even though I have a high immune system, and can’t get sick, even while surrounding by sick kids, when I sleep with you while you’re sick, I immediately get sick. Sex with you is the exception to my immune system, so until whatever got in you is out of you, celebrate our engagement with your hand.” 

“. . . Can you at least celebrate it next to me?” 

She sighed, turning back to him and smiling. “Okay, but you don't touch me, and I don’t touch you.”

He shrugged, “It’s ok. You touching yourself is always hot. Sometimes I think it's better if I’m out of the picture.” 

She sighed, holding a laugh, “Shower.” She ordered, walking away.

This wasn’t how he expected this night to end, but . . . this wasn’t how he expected his relationship with Mari to be like. 

This is much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a way I feel this was a filler chapter... But this was also important for the story. 
> 
> Also, NINO IS BACK! Not just here but in the actual fucking show!!!!! (I didn't plan this)  
> We finally get to what the hell Carapace does! Now the question is, will I make any of it canon in my story?... Mmmm. Who knows. 
> 
> Please leave comments to tell me about all the mistakes, continuity errors, problems with canon, "STILL NO SEX!!", "WHY DOES HE STILL NOT KNOW?", "THEY ARE NOW ENGAGED, WHY DOESN'T SHE TELL HIM?", "she's a bitch...", "... I think your writing is good.", and the questions that you want.  
> (I giggle like an idiot everytime I get the last one. It's not good. I usually read these comments in public... its embarrassing.) 
> 
> Don't know when the next one will come. Haven't written it. The good news is... I have a good idea of how I want it to go, and I have one scene already written. Expect it in 2-3 weeks. (I have to make a video for video editing class first. :/)


	8. The ring. The Goddamn Ring!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THAT FUCKING GODDAMN RING!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for coming back considering the fact that I abandoned this story for like... months.   
> I'm sorry.   
> I sadly discovered that the only thing that gets me in the mood to write this fic (or fics in general) is that moment when you have a lot of school work and you are procrastinating. This is me, skillfully procrastinating. 
> 
> IMPORTANT NOTE: I have re-read and FIXED many small details and some big issues in all of the previous chapters. If I didn't I either didn't notice it or couldn't find a solution for it (ie. Mari's 'sonogram' and The Scar Issue) 
> 
> Re-read the whole thing. It will help you get back to where you were, not forget a single detail, and just ... you know, check out if I fixed any issues you thought I needed to fix. Fun fact, Alya and Nino know about their identities. I liked it in the show, I brought it here. It's not that big of a deal, but it's there.
> 
> Enjoy!

“I’m gonna be late for work.”

“You already are.” 

The flu had lasted a week. Charlotte had stayed at her grandparents to prevent her from getting it. Adrien missed her first day of school because of it. 

“You’re gonna have to explain it to my boss.”

“I am your boss.” 

Mari had refused to share a bed with him for the entire week. Sleeping in Charlotte’s room while Nino slept in the guest room. 

“Can you quicken it up?”

“Hell no. I’ve fucking waited a week for this. Now stop whining. You know you want this.” 

Now a week later, Nino was at work, Charlotte was at school and both Adrien and Mari were two hours late for work. 

“Ok,” She swallowed hard, catching her breath, “Ruby. My hands went numb.” 

“Sorry.” He reached over to the bonds on her hand that he had apparently tightened too much. 

After adjusting the tightness of the bonds, he settled back, sitting on his legs, looking down at the tied up girl.

His fiance.

“You have that stupid smile on your face again.”

“Show me your hand.”

She tried and paused, “... You fucking- My hands are tied!”

“You can still show me your finger.” He teased, reaching for her hand and trying to turn it to his direction.

“Adrien, please! You’ve had me on the edge for … like an hour now! Please!” 

“Show me your hand and maybe I’ll let you come.” 

Sometimes it baffled him how easy it was to get into his ‘role’. But it never stops baffling how infatuated Mari was with being dominated. Or how much he did -secretly- enjoy taking control… for once. 

“Please!” She whined softly, legs tightening around his hips. 

“No. Hand.”

She mewled and twisted her hands in the bond, scratching her wrist a bit but not complaining. 

God, how much did he love seeing that ring on her finger! It was like a sign, a symbol that she was, 

“Mine.” 

Mari softly trembled at his growl in her ear, and exhaled, “Yes. I’m yours.”

He pulled her legs together and placed them over his shoulder, making sure she was positioned close to his member and pushed in. 

“Say it.” 

She gasped, feeling him reach deeper, at a new angle, and tried to catch her breath. Her silence did not satisfy him, and he pushed her legs on top of her, bending her, and placed himself to thrust harder into her as he growled, “Say it!”

“I’m yours. I’m all yours, I’ll always be yours,” She had her eyes closed, focusing on everything she was feeling and not what she was saying, muttering, babbling, “This is all yours.”

“This is all mine?” He knew that at the point she was in she was not gonna elaborate unless he prompted her.

She nodded, not really aware of what she was doing anymore, just doing anything that will get her to an orgasm. 

He smiled and nodded, enjoying the feel of her body and the look of bliss on her face. Plus the shine on her finger. That alone was driving him towards the edge. But he wasn’t going to come first. Not after not having sex for … two weeks? Wow, it’s been almost two-

“Please touch me!” 

Alright, Adrien. Is good to distract yourself to last longer, but don’t be daft and forget to please her. 

He pulled out, grabbed her waist and turned her around, knowing she enjoyed being aggressively shoved against the pillow and his reach to her clitoris was going to be easier this way. 

Face down, ass up, and tied up, this was a fantasy all on its own.

“Please.” Her breathy beg was muffled by the pillow her face was shoved against. 

Adrien ‘contemplated it’ for a minute before leaning down close to her ear, and picking up speed as he whispered, “Come for me, baby.” 

He knew he did a good job when not a single sound came out of her mouth, but her body shook with the force of her orgasm. Afterward, it was only seconds before the tightness and wetness drove him over the edge. 

Pulling out and laying down close to her, he looked at her cuffs and thought about it for a second, thought about leaving her there for a few hours and elongating this into an all-day sex game in where she was his ‘prisoner’ only there for his pleasure. She liked that one, and it gave him enough time to recover in between fucks.

But for real… they both had worked, and he could only delay it for a few hours. 

Undoing her cuffs he heard her give a breathy laugh, “Fuck, I’m so glad I’m marrying you. It would be too hard to train someone else all over again to do that as good as you do it and to be good with my daughter.”

He smiled and gave her a quick kiss before climbing off the bed and rushing to the bathroom, “You’re late for work. Your boss might not be happy about that.”

He was hopping into the shower when he heard her yell back, “Fuck you!” He laughed. 

Hours later, having finished his foreign trades meeting early, he passed by Mari’s office, picked up Charlie and went home, deciding he didn’t want to spend hours staring at numbers that day. 

Maybe he could try and cook something with Charlie for when Mari got home. 

… Maybe he could burn another house… 

“Do you want pizza?” 

Charlie looked up from the tv, confused for a minute before nodding, “And cheese sticks!” 

Adrien nodded, making the call when someone knocked on the door.

Charlie looked at the door and then looked at Adrien confused, “They never come that fast!”

Adrien smiled and patted her hair as he walked towards the door, opening it and finding Nino there. 

“You’re out of work early,” Adrien said, opening the door up for Nino to get in.

“I was checking out the apartment Chloe left, and when I left I realized I left my keys in the car. I think I left the spare car keys here, otherwise, Imma need to borrow your car to go get it at my parents.”

Adrien closed the door and went back to the living room with Charlie, yelling out at Nino as he made his way upstairs, “What about the uber that brought you here?”

“Guys was too weird, don’t wanna risk it again.”

“Ok.” 

After making the call for the pizza, Adrien became engulfed in Charlie’s children show when Nino came back downstairs empty-handed. 

“My keys are in the kitchen.” 

Nino nodded, quietly making his way towards the kitchen and quietly coming back. 

Too quiet.

A type of quiet Adrien was getting too used to. It meant Nino was conspiring again. That he either had a new point to bring up about Charlie’s Daddy Conspiracy, or he simply wanted to reopen any previous arguments.

Finally, after Nino stared at Charlie for a good two minutes, he burst.

“No! How can you not see it? She looks like the perfect mix between you and Mari?”

Adrien sighed and smiled, “Well to start with, I’ve been looking at this kid since she was a wrinkly little ball with no distinctive features. Just a few months ago I realized she had dimples and freckles. And it hit me by surprise the other day that she was four! Seeing her gain any distinctive facial features is sort of like watching someone lose weight. See it day to day and you won’t notice a difference. But go back to any old picture of them and you’ll wonder how you couldn’t see the progress. I still mostly see the wrinkly ball of love.” 

He smiled as Charlie climbed to sit on his lap, grabbing his phone and looking for the coloring game. 

“And second, you say she has my eyes and nose. That’s not fifty/fifty. In that case, I would have gotten like 8% of her. Your math is terribly wrong.”

“Your stubbornness is terribly irritating.” 

Adrien shrugged, “You like Alya. You can’t find it that irritating.” 

Nino groaned, before pulling out his phone, “Charlotte, look at the phone.” 

Charlie paused coloring, confused looking between her dad, Nino and the phone on her hand.

“My phone. And smile!”

Charlie did as told and Adrien complied, smiling for the picture Nino wanted to take of them.

“Okay,” Nino fidgeted with his phone on his way over to Adrien, as Charlie got up to color on the ground.

“Charlie. My phone. I’m waiting for the call from the pizza place.” Charlie pouted but gave him the phone nonetheless, “Play with the legos and… Count to a hundred. Do it in French and in English.”

“I can’t.” She whined.

“Well, tell me where you get stuck and I’ll help you from there.” 

Adrien knew that whatever Nino was going to argue next was not something he wanted Charlie hearing and repeating. He didn’t need Mari knowing that Nino was hellbent on this conspiracy theory.

“Look! Look! Same eyes, same nose! … Same ears? Huh. She has your ears!” 

“Mari has a type.” 

Nino’s groaning kept getting louder each time. “Adrien, look! Just try looking at it with a fresh set of eyes. This is some random dude and this random girl. Tell me you can’t see the similarities.” 

Adrien looked at the phone that was being basically shoved in his face. He could see it. Charlie had the same sharp edges to her nose and ears that he did instead of Mari’s bubbly curves. And well… there was no denying that she had his eyes. His mother’s eyes. He’s stared at millions of pictures of himself and his mother to be able to recognize those eyes anywhere. 

But that meant nothing. 

It could still mean Mari had a type. 

“I see your point. But I still reject your hypothesis.”

Nino nodded, looking more determined to prove this than about getting back together with Alya, “Just wait. I’ll prove this theory,” He began to leave, “And you’re just gonna have to accept that motherfucking law! I better get fucking paid for my fucking research!”

“So kind of you to remember that cause of this theory of yours and how she’s not supposed to hear those words!” 

Nino opened the door, quickly looking back at Charlie, “Charlotte! Don’t say fuck.” He then slammed the door behind him, leaving to God-knows-where.

Charlie looked at Adrien confused.

“You have a crazy uncle. That’s all.”

She nodded, putting another red block on her red pyramid, “I got to twenny four in Flench and seveneen in English.” 

“Alright. Let's start with French.”

It was three weeks after he proposed to Marinette that he had the chance to go on patrol again.

Between being sick and making up for that week he was gone and the excitement of Charlotte starting school, he kind of… forgot or was too occupied. 

He was one hundred percent ready to get down on his knees and apologize to Lady about missing patrol, but she beat him to it.

“Sorry I didn’t come to patrol these past weeks. It was kinda hectic in my home. Didn’t have an opportunity to sneak off.”

Chat sat down in shock next to her and paused in silence for a moment before replying, “Well now I’m just grateful nothing happened because I didn’t patrol either.”

Lady only raised her eyebrows in amazement but said nothing to either incriminate him or herself. 

“We truly are lucky, aren’t we?”

Lady smiled and nodded, looking up towards the full moon. 

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the cold breeze of the night and the very bright night.

After half an hour of staring off into the night, no attacks and no emergencies, Lady gasped and looked at him excitedly, before shoving her hand towards him, “I forgot to tell you why it was hectic. I got engaged!” 

Her smile was bigger and brighter than the moon in the sky, as big as the sense of dread that entered him as he looked at the ring.

Part of him felt what could only be defined as a heartbreak. Ladybug always felt his, and now… she definitely wasn’t. Even if he hasn’t been hers for a while. 

The other part of him was hearing Nino repeating to him over and over again that Charlotte was his daughter.

Because that was the ring he gave to Mari. 

He could recognize it anywhere. It was custom made for Mari. One of a fucking kind!

“Nice ring.” His voice shook. He tried not to, but it did. 

“Thanks. I don’t mean to shove it in your face,” He always wondered why they continued to tiptoe around one another when it came to relationships, “But I’m just so excited! To think I’m getting married to my college crush!” She sounded like she couldn’t control her excitement.

Chat was trying to control his nausea. 

“Can I see it?” “

She reached her hand over and he paused as he went to grab it, realizing that maybe she didn’t get at what he meant.

“I recently bought one for my girl. I just want to see if I got a good one. Can I take it off?”

She nodded, took it off herself and handed it to him before staring at her empty hand, seeming lost. 

He turned it around a few times, trying not to be as obvious as to what exactly he was looking for. If she knew about it she would have most likely not given him the ring. But he forgot to tell her. Or to tell Marinette.

Years ago, when they were moving her stuff to their apartment, they found her old diaries and he managed to glimpse at one of them. And he saw ‘MDC hearts AA’ a lot! And he loved it! So when it came to making the ring, as an oath to that he decided to ask the jeweler to engrave it to the inside of the ring where the gem was. It didn’t come out as pretty as Mari’s doodles were, but he liked it nonetheless. 

Yet when he gave the ring to Mari he forgot about it. In the thrill of the moment he completely forgot about telling her, and he guessed that Mari had not taken her ring off since then. 

And there it was. 

On the back of the ring.

MDC hearts AA.

Ladybug’s getting married to her college crush. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s college crush is Adrien Agreste. 

Ladybug had Marinette’s engagement ring.

Nino thinks Charlotte looks just like him. 

Besides Mari, he had only ever slept with Ladybug.

Ladybug is a mom. 

Marinette doesn’t know who the father is. 

Ladybug doesn’t know who he really is. 

Marinette had a breakup at the same time he did.

Can he jump from the tower and die with the suit on?

“Can I have it back?” 

Can I have the past five years of my life back?

“Yes. Sorry.” How far away was the Seine? Cats can't swim, right?

“There appears to be a robbery. I’ll take care of this one. When I come back you gotta tell me why you are freaking out.” 

She left. 

And a minute after so did he. 

-*-*-*-*-

How could she have been so self-centered?

Yes. She was ecstatic she was getting married.

Yes. She wanted everyone to know.

But Chat was a sensitive subject. 

Hell, even she felt an itch when he told her he was looking for rings for his girl. 

She felt horrible and hoped that maybe this time he would come back and they could talk it out. 

She waited, and waited, and waited.

And three hours later she couldn’t keep waiting anymore.

She has a family. 

Or at least she thought she did.

But when she came home all she found was a grim looking Alya babysitting Charlotte. 

“What happened? Wasn’t Adrien supposed to babysit her?” 

Alya motioned for Charlotte to go watch tv, afterward pulling Mari to the kitchen. 

“When I was called over it was Chloe who was babysitting her.”

“What?” She was still feeling a deep heavy rock in her chest from what she had done to Chat, and now it was becoming a boulder. It was the sense that something bad was going to happen or was already happening that had her out of breath. Or maybe she was having a panic attack. 

“By the time I arrived Chloe was freaking by the door telling me to hurry, that she had to go after Adrien before he did something stupid again.” 

She didn’t know what part to process first. 

Adrien wasn’t here. He had not been here for a while. Chloe was babysitting Charlotte instead. Adrien was doing something stupid. 

This was not the first time. 

To say cheating wasn’t the first thing that came to mind would be a lie. 

“And then?”

“She just left. I haven’t called her yet. I figured you had to be my priority when you came home. Though you were late.” 

Mari nodded, “I- … I need to take a shower. Or a bath. I need-... I need to unwind. Did Charlotte eat? Is Charlotte-”

“Everything is ok with Charlotte. She has no idea what has happened… And to be fair neither do we. But yeah. Are you ok?”

Mari began to walk up the stairs, in a bit of a daze, “I don’t know yet.” 

And she didn’t. 

And she didn’t know either that the night could get worse until she saw Adrien’s toiletries and emergency bag were missing. Adrien had left and did not plan to come back soon. And hadn’t warned her about it, so clearly he didn’t care if she knew or not.

Lying down in the tub all she could do was wonder if Alya, Nino, and Chloe would take good care of Charlotte if heartbreak finally rid the world of her. 

Because right then, at that moment, all she wanted was to sink and forget the tightening in her chest.

-*-*-*-*-*-

“You are the definition of human disaster! I don’t know what she did, I don’t even give a fuck! You can’t abandon a little girl like that!”

Chloe’s tolerance for Adrien’s dramas was running far too short. And after working with kids these past few years she knew how bad it was to let Adrien create a habit of what he was doing.

“Open the fucking door, Adrien! Or so help me God I will get Bee and wreck this door down!”

After slamming the door a few more minutes and yelling at him to open, the door to his old bedroom at the mansion aggressively opened. 

“She had the fucking ring!”

“... Well, I sure hope she did. That ring was expensive. I would understand your anger if she sold it.” 

“Not Mari. Ladybug!”

Honestly… She should have reacted in shock. It would have made Adrien feel better. But she didn’t. Instead, she made a face that made it clear to him that she knew. That she had made the connection long ago. That to her, Ladybug and Marinette being one person wasn’t a shocker. And that she felt guilty about knowing it. 

His voice went low and dangerous as he slowly said, “Who else fucking knows?”

“Just me. I told you long ago. I found her crying in an alleyway after your breakup and we got to talking, and because of the whole breakup and pregnancy thing she broke down even more and told me. Much more when I told her I had talked to you. She was desperate. Desperate enough to tell you back then.”

He breathed heavily as he asked, “Is she mine?” 

She paused, knowing which ‘she’ he was referring to, hands fidgeting with one another, wishing desperately she had an answer to that, “I don’t know.” 

“Chloe,” He paused, letting out a huff of air in anger, “Do you know what this means?”

“Oh, trust me when I say I do. I’ve known this for five years. I’ve asked myself for five years. I’ve theorized hundreds of times and wondered if it was better or not for you to know. And every single time the answer was not. Charlotte was happy, Mari was happy, and so were you. Why was I going to come in and be like ‘Hey, you might be the father of Charlotte and the only reason you don’t know it’s because you broke up with her mother and demanded she stayed away right as she found out she was pregnant.’ It would have been psychotic! It would have been like I was the Grinch about to steal Christmas. They used to think me an evil witch for the first few years, I couldn’t just show up and prove them right!”

“A little selfish there don’t you think?”

Chloe gasped, “Hey, fucker! You told her a gazillion times that you didn’t want to see her. She told you a gazillion times that she needed to talk to you. After getting told ‘no’ that many times, she figured it was better to raise her baby in a home that wanted her and not with a father that hated her mother’s guts. Yes, I was scared of what they would think of me if I dropped that bomb, but in the end, I was still following her wishes. Lady didn’t want Chat to know because Chat didn’t want to know. Mari didn’t want the father to know because the father didn’t want to know. No one wants to be somewhere where they’re not wanted!”

She huffed in the wake of her outburst while he stayed frozen, gathering his thoughts and looking for an angle.

After a few minutes, finally, “I need to know if she’s mine.”

“How will that change anything? You love Charlotte. She’s yours!” Her voice was reaching the pitch she would get when she was frustrated that someone was not seeing or understanding something so obvious.

“I need to know exactly how big is this mess before I move forward to clean it up.” He muttered, walking into the hallway and moving towards his father’s office. 

“Do you realize this mess is entirely yours? I was on your side before, but you’ve walked out on Mari twice now. And this time you didn’t just run away from Mari with the baggage you dropped on her. But you also ran away from the baggage, you prick!”

He paused, right outside the office, appearing to realize now what he’d done.

He turned around, about to speak.

“Charlotte doesn’t know. I kept her busy and distracted while you fucking ran away. As far as she’s aware, you just haven’t come home yet.” She interrupted him before he could have another freakout.

“I can’t.”

“What the fuck do you mean you can’t?” She was beginning to sound more like Alya every day.

“I can’t go back to that house like this. I can’t go back and pretend everything’s normal and ok when there’s a voice inside my head yelling on repeat ‘IS SHE YOUR DAUGHTER?’”

“Adrien.”

“I need to know!” He was on the edge of being crazy and desperate. 

“So what are you gonna do?” She felt tired.

“How about we simply stop yelling outside my office and get a DNA test.”

They both turned to look at Gabriel, both feeling like children who just got caught doing something naughty. 

“Dad.”

And Gabriel stared them both down like children who did get caught. 

“Now, with what I got from the yelling you believe Charlotte is really your daughter.”

Adrien looked down embarrassed and nodded sheepishly.

Gabriel nodded, seeming as though he was just accepting another burden on him. But Chloe has seen this man since she was a toddler, she knew when he was hiding something. 

“Now before I go on and do a few illegal things which I believe Miss Chloe will have to help me with, care to elaborate as to why there’s a possibility of an illegitimate heir?” 

Adrien continued to stare at the floor like a kid who was being scolded. For years Chloe had been looking at various similarities in both personality and appearance between Adrien and Charlotte, and right now, he looked like Charlotte. Charlotte also didn’t like to look at people’s faces when she’s in trouble. 

Chloe paused, though, hearing again what he said, “How am I helping you?”

“Aren’t you Charlotte’s Preschool teacher?” 

Chloe felt a knot in her stomach knowing how Gabriel’s mind worked. 

“I’ll just need you to sign her out and excuse her for a few hours. Maybe even make it look like she didn’t leave as to not raise suspicion. Afterward, Adrien will accompany her to a friend of mine who… specializes in things like this. A bit of blood, a few days later, and we’ll know if she’s is or if she isn’t. The mother doesn’t have to know. Or at least, it seems like Adrien doesn’t want her to know yet.” Gabriel looked back at Adrien who still refused to lift his head.

“If it’s wrong… She doesn’t need to know.” He whispered.

Gabriel let out a breath through his nose, almost seeming like a mocking laugh, “Well, if it’s wrong… How do you plan to explain you being here and not at home?” 

Adrien sighed, almost looking like he was in pain, “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

Gabriel nodded and stared at Adrien for two minutes before his frustration at Adrien’s silence and avoidance got to him, “Why do I possibly have an illegitimate granddaughter?” 

“I’m gonna marry a woman who had a kid out marriage. I thought you were fine with that.”

Gabriel laughed shortly, mockingly, “I’m fine with you marrying a woman who made a mistake but cleaned it up. She’s responsible. She’s proven it a million time already. You, on the other hand, are telling me that you slept with someone once, might have gotten her pregnant, and then … And then what boy? What did you do?” 

Adrien almost looked up, but didn’t, “It’s complicated.” 

“Look at me boy.” Gabriel’s patience was now almost non-existence at Adrien’s arrogance and cowardice.

Chloe felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave, but she knew Gabriel wasn’t gonna let her. Gabriel was gonna make her stand there and watch Adrien get reprimanded. 

Adrien slowly looked at his dad.

“Do I look like I care for that? You tell me why, and you’ll find out if you fucked up or not in two days. You don’t tell me? Then I don’t believe you’re responsible enough to be working for this company.” 

While she may have not been feeling bad for Adrien before, she was now. How quickly can your world fall apart?

Adrien’s mouth opened to speak, and seemed to think about for a few seconds before, “I-I… I was dating this girl since college… and after three years we decided to… yeah. And… afterward she did something that angered me. And I told her off, broke it off, and walked away. If she was pregnant, I didn’t know.” 

Gabriel nodded, “... Have you heard of contraceptives, kid?” 

Adrien scoffed and muttered under his breath, “Is not like you ever gave me a talk.”

“There’s only three of us here and no one’s talking, you idiot. I can hear what you say. And you had plenty of tutors and teachers to explain that to you.” 

Adrien clapped his hands and sighed, biting the inside of his mouth as he decided whether or not to share what he was about to share.

“I may have been blindfolded…”

“And were you also gagged? Couldn’t you have asked for a damn condom?” 

Adrien bit both his lips before popping them out, clearly uncomfortable, “I may not have had my mind in the right place.” 

Gabriel stared at Adrien. Considering. Thinking. Analyzing his options. 

Finally, he whispered modestly, “I heard what Miss Chloe was yelling prior to you two reaching my office.” 

Neither of them now dared to look at Gabriel. Chloe had yelled about Chat, heavily implying that Adrien and Chat were the same people. 

“From what I gathered, you know Miss Dupain-Cheng is Miss Ladybug.” 

Adrien’s mouth popped slightly opened with noise and Chloe blinked. 

“I may have encountered a situation in which I may have found this out. And we may have come to certain terms of conditions as to why I would not share that information.” 

Both of them looked at Gabriel, confused and amazed.

“When?” Adrien gasped. He most definitely was not enjoying appearing to be the last to know. 

“I believe Charlotte was three.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I could try, and subtly ask Miss Dupain-Cheng who may be the father of the baby. And she… will honestly answer me.”

“She told me she doesn’t know,” Chloe added confused.

“Well if that’s the truth, then that’s the answer I’ll receive. And then we’ll do the test.”

“I want the test now.”

Both of them looked at Adrien, who looked determined. 

“We should ask her-”

“I want there to be no doubt. I want the test. And I want it now.”

Gabriel stayed quiet, thinking, before finally agreeing. “Alright. But people are sleeping now. And it’ll be hard to excuse this to the mother at this hour.” 

“Tomorrow.”

“Is Sunday. No School Day. Just wait till Monday.” Chloe told him.

“The longer the wait the worse it will be with Mari.” 

Chloe scoffed, “Yeah, don’t worry. It’s already pretty bad.” 

Gabriel turned to Adrien, “Just go to bed, and wait.” 

Adrien nodded, not liking it one bit, before walking away. 

Once he was out of sight Gabriel whispered to Chloe, “Find a way to meet up with Miss Dupain-Cheng tomorrow. I’ll get the answer out of her.” 

Gabriel turned around and began to walk back into his office, looking terribly grim and regretful.

“You know Ladybug is Mari. And now you know Chat is Adrien… And you’re just chill about it? What does she have on you that made you stayed quiet?” 

“... I’ve made worse mistakes than what these two are going through right now. Let’s just say I’m more thankful for her silence than she is of mine.” 

With that, he closed the door and the conversation was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear any thoughts you had about this story.
> 
> I won't ask for comments because I don't have the next chapter written and I don't know how long it will take me to read it. 
> 
> But it doesn't matter, I know you guys will have A LOT to say about this.
> 
> Thanks for reading, see you soon?


	9. Someone retires, someone gets a long-overdue promotion, someone has a dose of cold-hearted truth, someone has warm-hearted truth, and Mari deals with breakup number two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More reveals happened than what was originally planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I made the name be ridiculously long on purpose.   
> \--  
> GUESS WHO JUST HIT 100K WORD COUNT! (not on this story. Overall my stories)  
> \--  
> So a lot happens here, and ... nothing happens here. Depends on how you look at it and what you care about.   
> Also, I'm so happy I managed to create such strong emotions about my story with you guys.   
> Regarding Adrien... so I was re-reading what I had written, and I have 3 snippets from the last chapter already written. SugarSock, MariChat and Adrienette. I'm not giving you too many spoilers, I'm just telling you who are in these scenes and that all of these are apology scenes. I have the end written. (I think, I might add more/an epilogue). I believe I did a good climax. And next time you will finally, FINALLY! understand what the name is all about.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.”

Mari was quickly getting dressed after Gabriel called an emergency meeting far too early in the morning. While she was about to call Alya to babysit Charlotte again, Chloe showed up, reassuring her that she could take care of Charlotte. 

How did Chloe know she needed her? Who knows, Mari was too stressed with personal affairs and the possibility of getting fired because of Adrien to even consider Chloe’s opportune appearance.

Picking up her bag and looking for her keys, Marinette wondered why Alya wasn’t here, to begin with, when she woke up, considering she slept here. But then again, Alya was a journalist. And every day in Paris there was some scandal to talk about. 

She only hoped it wasn’t hers. 

“Before you go, where’s the pancake batter? I’m thinking I’m gonna have to pull out the big guns to distract Charlotte.” 

Mari paused by the door, reminded of the fact that Chloe ran out after Adrien last night. And that she knew of some previous mistake Adrien did, that he may have repeated… And that Chloe may have caught up to Adrien last night. She would need to question her about all of that when she came home.

“Top shelf, far back, get the step ladder. Don’t ask why I hid it, I can’t remember right now.” And with that, she left.

It was a good thing that it was still early, no traffic on the road, no time to dwell in the car panicking about her job. 

It was a stressful thing that Gabriel’s office was at the very top of Agreste Co. 

A very long elevator ride, thirty-two levels, of just overthinking everything. 

Like she’s… she’s gonna get fired right? Adrien discovered something he didn’t like about her, ran off, and then told his dad to fire her… or fired her himself and is just making his dad deliver the news. She’s now a single mother who’s unemployed with too many bills and an expensive enrollment fee for her daughter. 

If she moved back home with her parents, would she give Charlotte her old room or the guest bedroom? Didn’t her parents turn her old room into Charlotte’s room? She’s gonna have to work from the tiny guest room? She’s definitely gonna switch the rooms, she will need her workspace back, and Charlotte doesn’t need the much room-

The dinging sound of the elevator scared her. Or maybe it was the prospect of the talk that’s soon to come. 

In Agreste Co. Gabriel opted for solid walls for the sake of privacy like he has at his house, so staring at nothing but two wooden doors was making her breath accelerate. There’s no way of knowing ahead of time what’s waiting for her inside that room. Nothing. Just opening the door. 

In the silence of the empty morning, the sound of the door opening and Gabriel welcoming her in and asking her to sit sounded immense and like a death sentence. 

She couldn’t look up, not at him, not at anything, as she sat down and waited for the verdict.

“Thank you for coming so early in the morning on a Sunday, I just needed to ask you a few questions now that we are going to be a family… Well, more than we already were.” 

Gabriel doesn’t know? Adrien… didn’t run back to his father’s house? Then where is Adrien? Did he really cheat on her? Is there another woman, and another house he ran to?

“I understand it may not sound like such an emergency that would require you to get up so early to come here, but I wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible before your daily family affairs began.” 

Adrien is cheating on her. That has to be it. And Marinette is just gonna have to accept it. For the time being, until she can get her footing and rise above the situation. Right now everything in her life is dependant on Adrien, so she will need a new job, a new home, and a lawyer. 

“Is just a few questions regarding Charlotte.” 

Adrien better not think he’s gonna keep her. He has no claim for her. Charlotte belongs to her. 

“Could you tell me who the father is?” 

That paused her hectic train of thoughts and made her look up confused, “What?”

“Could you tell me who Charlotte’s father is?” There was not a single shred of discomfort in his eyes, he had an agenda and he no plans to let her leave that office without that information. 

“How will that benefit you?” Marinette didn’t know why she was avoiding answering the question to him. She knew how Gabriel was with interrogations better than anyone, she’s seen him do this a million times, and Gabriel was one of the few people who knew she was Ladybug, so saying the truth won’t make her look like she’s crazy.

“Well, in the far future, there’s a high probability that Charlotte will inherit this company. I want to know if there’s a probability of any low-life man trying to take advantage of that by claiming he’s her real father and that he should get a cut of it.” 

There was reason in what he said, and Marinette could definitely understand his worry for his hard-earned company. But she knew Gabriel, and she knew there was more to it. 

“I’m not really sure.” 

There was no judgment in his eyes, which she was grateful for. Even her parents judged her for a second when she told them she didn’t know who the father was. 

He inhaled deeply and sighed, “Is it Catboy?” 

Marinette said nothing, but Gabriel knew how to read her face. Even her ‘poker’ face. 

Gabriel nodded and wrote something down on a pad of paper he had been resting his hands on. 

“Again, why did you need to know?”

He smiled and motioned his hand indicating that he already told her.

She shook her head, “There’s more to it.” 

“I’m a very wealthy man, with a self-made empire. I can’t let anyone steal it on a technicality.” 

She nodded, still not buying it, “Where’s Adrien?” 

He looked confused, “What do you mean?” 

She didn’t say anything. 

After staring at each other for a minute, she nodded and stood up, “Anything else?” 

He nodded, a sad smile on his face, “I understand this was not something you wanted to share… I also understand that the new so-called ‘Guardian’ has come back to Paris…” He sighed, clearly not wanting to do what he was going to do next, “I’m ending it.” 

He opened a drawer and pulled out two jewelry boxes where she believed he had placed both of the Miraculous. 

She felt wrong, “That’s a big payment for a tiny secret.”

“You just told me Chat Noir has a daughter he knows nothing about, and she’s is now an Agreste. You just told me that my granddaughter is a legacy in so many ways. That’s a huge secret.” He smiled and handed her the box. 

Looking inside she found both the Peacock and the Butterfly Miraculous. It was too easy… or was it? 

“You’re just giving up?” 

He shrugged, “There’s nothing left to do. I won’t fight. I won’t endanger my granddaughter. My son has committed to this company, I have a granddaughter and soon I’ll have a daughter-in-law. I believe it is perfectly ok to let go of the past now.”

She nodded and left.

On her way home, she wondered if half of what he said was true. 

Adrien was still not home… All Gabriel might have is a son and a granddaughter he could only see on the weekends.

Almost at home, she called Nino, who for the first time since he got home, did not answer his phone.

-*-*-*-*-

He heard Alya sigh, tired and unimpressed, “This is Chloe’s old apartment.”

He smiled, “This is my apartment now. Where I’ll be making music and working towards our future.” 

She was so unimpressed, “Your future.” 

His smile fell a little bit, but he was no quitter, “Is still our future. I have not given up, I did not quit on you.” 

“Really? Then what do you call leaving?” God, he loved her sass.

“I left, still wanting to be with you, with plans of studying and advancing my career enough so that you would not need for anything ever again. You decided that to stop listening of I said ‘I’m leaving’. I never said I was leaving you.” He wondered if he was gonna win this fight. Alya was stubborn to a fault, and if she felt cheated, she was gonna fight.

“You put your career over us.”

“I put our future over us! I’m a loan-free music producer! There was a university in New York that offered me the chance to study with a full ride scholarship. I’d be insane if I didn’t take that chance! And knowing how proud you are and how independent-like you were raised, I knew you weren’t going to stay with a guy which you had to maintain because the loans he had to take to study music here in Paris were drowning him alive!

I know you Alya, and I know you are angry, and I know for a fact that you will stay angry with me for a good while. I know you won’t forgive me right away. I know you won’t because your pride won’t let you admit that what I did I did it for us! And I’m okay with that. I came back mentally prepared to climb this hill and die on it if I have to. Take your time. 

But I am not leaving you. I’m not quitting this relationship just because you want to be petty. I’m not over you because I never did the steps necessary to be over you because that was never the plan. And I know you’re not over me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be standing here, angry at me for coming back. You are a kind woman and if you had really moved on you would have come here, congratulated me on my achievements and wished me a good life. You want me to fight, and I will.” 

He did know Alya, which is why he knew that for the first time since they started dating years ago, he really did leave her completely speechless. There was nothing she could figure out to add to his one-sided argument.

They stared at each other for what felt like ages before she finally sighed, nodded and muttered, “I guess I’ll see you later.” 

He smiled and shrugged, waving goodbye as she left. This was as close as he was gonna get to forgiveness for now. 

Now to wait until the appropriate time to woo her again.

… Definitely not now… Her pride is a little sore from being perfectly described by him. Alya never liked being ‘predictable’.

Looking for his phone he found two missed calls and three messages from Adrien.

Beauty&theBeat:

5:01am_Adrien: CODE RED!  
5:01am_Adrien: FUCKING EMERGENCY!  
5:01am_Adrien: I NEED YOUR HELP!  
12:32pm_Nino: Are you hurt?  
12:34pm_Adrien: WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU!?  
12:34pm_Nino: Phone didn’t charge, and by the time I woke up Alya was already here.  
12:34pm_Nino: Angry ex-girlfriend by the door felt like a priority.  
12:35pm_Adrien: Time to pay me back a favor!  
12:35pm_Adrien: Go to Mari. Kiss her ass for me and remind her I still love her!  
12:35pm_Adrien: I just need to solve some things first!  
12:36pm_Adrien: GO ASAP! I KIND OF RAN OUT LAST NIGHT. SHE WILL KILL ME IF THERE’S NO NEWS OF ME SOON!  
12:37pm_Nino: what did you do?  
12:37pm_Adrien: GO!  
12:37pm_Adrien: NOW!  
12:37pm_Adrien: THIS IS KIND OF YOUR FAULT, SO JUST GO! I’LL EXPLAIN LATER!  
12:39pm_Nino: :/ kk

*-*-*-*

“Ok, Adrien. Here are two things that can happen now. You can either take my word for it, or you can continue to be paranoid and demand the paternity test. What’s your choice?”

He may be working alongside his father now, but Gabriel has never felt like a companion or a work associate or friend, Gabriel has always felt like ‘father’. Not ‘dad’, ‘father’. This conversation felt somewhat like ‘dad’ though. 

“Depends on what I hear. Did she really tell you?” He still couldn’t understand how his dad got this information out of Mari, considering he’s been trying for years. 

“For a good price.” 

This spiked his attention, “You.. paid for the information? Mari sold this information for money?”

Gabriel shook his head, “To be fair, she did not know she was selling it. And she clearly did not want to share it, so I gave her something that she… wanted. I can’t tell you though. That stays between your bride and me. I’ve still no interest in sharing this bit of information.” 

Adrien nodded, knowing when the Q&A was over, “What did she say?” 

Gabriel stared, looking for the first time ever… uncomfortable, and sighed, “Ladybug had Chat Noir’s child, and didn’t tell him.” 

…

…

Ok…

Where did he go from here?

Ladybug is Marinette.

Marinette’s daughter is Charlotte.

Ladybug had Chat Noir’s daughter.

He’s Chat Noir.

Charlotte is his daughter. 

After a long silence from Adrien, Gabriel sighed, frustrated, and asked, “Why did your fiance have your daughter and you didn’t know about it until now?” 

“... I got mad with the whole ‘secret identity’ issue and walked out on her after having sex. We had been dating for three years, and she kept her identity a secret even then. And I was tired of the secrets. So I basically broke up with her and avoided talking to her for… far too long. I guess I didn’t give her the chance to tell me she was pregnant.” 

“You guess?!” Gabriel exclaimed, out of character.

Adrien thought back to all those times he talked crap about Marinette’s mysterious blond with her and Alya. How much he hated Marinette’s baby daddy. He basically looked in a mirror and shot his reflection. 

“What are you going to do, Adrien?” Gabriel’s patience had run low on this new day pretty quickly.

Adrien shrugged, “Go back with my tail between my legs, apologize for leaving without an explanation and ask her why she didn’t tell me the truth.” 

Gabriel raised his eyebrows, “I believe she’s going to be a little confused as to when she didn’t tell you the truth. If I’m not mistaken, Miss Dupain-Cheng does not know of your secret identity.”

Adrien nodded, “... Yeah, that too.” 

Adrien sat there, staring at nothing for a few minutes when Gabriel grew irritated, “Leave and fix this, Adrien!”

He huffed and stood up, grumpily and sarcastically replied as he walked out, “Any advice, Father?”

“Don’t run away from your problems. Face them head-on and accept the bruises.” 

Adrien froze, not expecting an actual advice from Gabriel. 

“And find whatever delicacy she favors the most to sweeten her up before the confrontation. Otherwise, you will simply look like an asshole.” 

Adrien smiled, thinking about all the occasions Gabriel must have had to have learned these things, “Is that your advice, or mom’s?”

“I was married for twenty-two years, boy. Trust me on that last one.”

He could almost hear his mother yelling angrily at Gabriel for arriving home late before shushing quickly at the sight of her favorite chocolate covered fruit basket. She would always then proceed to sass Gabriel quietly as she munched on the fruits. He barely remembered her now, so it felt good to remember even the smallest details, like that fight.

Adrien nodded and walked out.

*-*-*-*

Marinette held on tighter to Charlotte’s hand as they walked by a small local restaurant that they would frequent as a family. It’s been a long time since she’s felt the ache of a break-up, and as she walked around the city, looking for her favorite local fabric store, she was only being reminded of how much she hated that beginning phase of being reminded of that person every second of every day and feeling hurt all over again. 

“Can we get Ah-scream?” 

Marinette stopped reminiscing of the tiny restaurant and looked down to see Charlotte’s eyes focused on a new local ice-cream shop. She shrugged, “Have you earned it?”

“Yes!” Charlotte smiled brightly and began to list all the things she did right the day prior.

Marinette smiled and took her to get some ice-cream.

Leaving the Ice Cream Parlor they froze, being both bombarded by Nino and Alya, all four of them looking confused as to how they found themselves in each others’ company.

Alya batted first, “Anything we can help you with?”

Nino, looking like he had run here, huffed and smiled, “I’m here to spend the evening with two of my favorite girls, but it looks as though it's gonna be three of them.”

Alya huffed, “Why?”

“Because I was away for a long time and I missed them,” Nino said calmly.

“You were living with them a week ago.” Alya was not buying it.

Nino huffed, sassily, “And now that I’m not, I miss them!” 

“Adrien sent you.”

Both Alya and Nino paused, looking at Marinette who had already figured it all out.

“Why did daddy sent them?”

Mari looked down and forced a big smile, “To make sure we are safe while we travel through Paris.”

Charlotte nodded and continued to eat her ice cream.

Alya’s anger changed in reason as she looked back at Nino, “Is that true?”

Nino shrugged, “I’m just here to return a favor. I mean…” He smiled tenderly at Alya, “He went and took care of you while I was gone, no what, buts, or ifs. That’s what bros do. We help each other out.” He turned and looked at Mari, “Now it’s my turn.”

Both girls stayed quiet, Alya now understanding why Adrien ‘intruded’ on her life after she broke up with Nino and shoved himself into ‘best friend’ status. Mari understanding that Adrien is in some way still thinking of her and may be planning to come back if he felt the need to send Nino to appease her for a while. 

“Stay here for a sec, I feel that with that run I earned myself a scoop!” Nino smiled at Charlotte and ran inside to buy himself some ice cream.

 

Alya looked at Mari, “... I hate that I still have feelings for that psycho.”

Mari smiled, “When we get home I have sort of a surprise for you both. All as long as you ask almost no questions.”

Alya stared at Mari, confused and suspicious, “No questions? I’m a journalist!”

“No one can know and there’s still some stuff that not a single person should know.” Mari continued to smile, no indication of changing her mind about this.

Alya sighed. 

Arriving back home, Mari was in full-on Mom-mode as she dragged both Charlotte and Nino into the kitchen to clean up the mess they did on themselves.

“With Charlotte I get it! She’s still trying to get control of her motor skills. She got her arms and brain just four years ago. But you! You are twenty-five! You have twenty-five years of experience! What the hell, Nino?!”

“I told you to slow down! It was melting!” Nino whined.

Marinette huffed, throwing a wet towel at him as she went on to wipe Charlotte of all the melted ice cream, giving up and just telling her to go to the bathroom and that she will be up soon.

“Stay here-”

Nino smiled, “I ain’t leaving any time soon.”

Alya huffed and walked away towards the living room, “And I ain’t leaving you alone with him.”

Mari sighed, not wanting to leave them alone, but needing to clean up Charlotte before it got worse.

Ten minutes later, Mari was trying to calm down Charlotte who got a little too excited about being allowed to use the bubbles for her bath and went a little overboard. 

“Char- Char- CHARLOTTE!”

Charlotte paused, scared, and finally sat down in the mountain of bubbles.

“What did we say about the baths?” It was never easy to scorn Charlotte. Charlotte never did anything with negative intentions.

“If I make a mess, I clean it.” And it sure as hell wasn’t easy to hear her guilt-ridden voice. She was just having fun, and Mari didn’t want to stop it. But it would take hours to clean up all the water and soap off of the bathroom. 

“Alright.” Mari sighed, trying to ease away her anger as fast as possible, so as to not make this a bad bath experience for Charlotte. 

“Daddy leff early for work today, didn’t he?” Charlotte wasn’t looking at her, but rubbing at her feet, looking for the wrinkles that were already forming.

Mari paused for a second, and quickly continued on to wash her hair, not wanting to worry Charlotte in any way, “... Yes… And he might not come back tonight. Work is a little crazy right now.”

“Work sucks,” Charlotte grumbled.

Mari smiled at Charlotte’s innocence, “In a way.” 

Charlotte pulled her hands out of the water and stared at her pruney fingers, giggling at her ‘old people fingers’. 

How was Mari going to tell her that ‘daddy’ was gone? 

Was he gone? … Nino was here… So maybe…

No. No time to worry. Focus on the moment, and at the moment there is Charlotte. So focus on her.

Mari heard a knock on the door and looked behind her to see Nino.

“Yes?”

Nino grimaced, “Prior to leaving I might have left some clothes in your laundry… Did you wash them?”

Mari thought about it and shrugged, “Possibly. They might be in Ad- … His side of the closet.”

Charlotte paid no mind to her stutter, Nino gave her a pitying look and went on to find some clothes to change into, and Mari thought about it. 

She couldn’t even think his name, she was so mad and frustrated with him. Not to forget hurt. 

Maybe it was because it was easier to talk about the devil when he has no name. When you give him a name he becomes too real, and Mari’s still hoping this might just be one huge misunderstanding.

Mari sighed, “Up and out.” She began to go about emptying the tub and cleaning as much as she could while a soaking wet Charlotte stumbled out of the tub.

“Can we wash movies?” Charlotte muffled as she covered herself entirely with Ad- His light blue towel. 

“Later tonight, right now mommy has to have a talk with your aunt and uncle. And you,” Mari knelt down and began to help her dry herself, “Are going to stay in your room playing or,” Mari faked a gasp and she looked at her suspiciously, “Did you do your homework?”

Charlotte looked down and shook her head, “I don’ wanna write letters anymore. It’s boling. I already know it all.”

Mari sighed, picking her up and heading to Charlotte’s room to dress her, “Well, baby, you have to, otherwise mommy and daddy get in trouble. They’ll say we don’t love you enough because we didn’t encourage to learn, and then they’ll take you from us.”

As she turned on the light in Charlotte’s room she saw a shadow fleeing towards her closet.

Charlotte gasped, “No! I wanna stay wiff mommy and daddy!”

Mari nodded, walking towards the closet cautiously, “Then you will do your homework.”

Charlotte huffed and she climbed on her bed waiting for Mari to bring her clothes.

Mari opened the closet a little too aggressively as she expected to find a person hiding in it. There was nothing. And with the number of clothes Charlotte has, it would be impossible for anyone to hide there anyway. Mari sighed.

Being a hero has made her paranoid.

After dressing Charlotte and leaving her in her room with a good amount of entertainment, Mari went to her room to get the Miraculous Box from her secret bag in the closet. It had been hard to hide that at first, but Master Fu was too old and ill to protect it any longer, so she took it for the moment.

Afterward, she went downstairs and searched for her bag, paying mind to the awkward silence coming from Alya in the living room, and the mindless chatter coming from Nino. 

Mari carried all three boxes as she entered the living room, smiling at their strange banter. They were going to get through it. Mari knew that much.

“Nino.” 

Nino looked up from his endless one-sided conversation with Alya and as soon as he saw what Mari was holding his smile dropped.

Alya’s demeanor changed immediately too, recognizing at least two of the objects in her hand, quickly understanding what Mari meant with ‘don’t ask questions’. 

Mari saw it on her lips, how hard it was for Alya to do that. They were quivering.

“Why do you have that?” Nino asked, baffled.

Alya glared at him, forgetting that Nino wasn’t there when Mari told her no questions, “No questions!”

Nino looked at her, confused, and opened his mouth to argue back with her when Mari interrupted him.

“For one reason or another, I was trusted to protect these things while you were out of the country. But you’re back. And the Guardian should be in charge of protecting these.” 

Mari said nothing incriminating, but the look in Alya’s face said that she was aggressively trying to put her face in Ladybug’s suit and was desperately trying to connect the dots because the only person who’s identity Alya didn’t know was Chat and Ladybug.

Nino, on the other hand, was curious as to what Miraculous the small boxes were carrying. 

He slowly got up, picked up one of the boxes and opened it, and his gasp clearly indicated he did not expect to see the Peacock. 

Mari smiled tenderly, “What were you expecting?” 

Nino shook his head, opening the second one and gasping even more as he saw the Butterfly miraculous, “Hawkmoth quit?”

Alya stood up, forgetting her conspiracy in a second, and rushed towards them to see the miraculous, “No way… We are free?”

Nino sighed in pleasure, smiling as he picked up the boxes and went forward with putting the two miraculous in their place, “I’m so happy! I thought you were about to tell me you were about to quit being Ladybug.” 

Alya and Mari froze.

Alya looked at Mari, eyes almost popping of her face as the pieces no longer needed to connect because she was already seeing the full picture.

Mari stood frozen, mouth agape, staring at Nino.

After he finished with the Miraculous box Mari finally pulled herself together, “How?”

Nino shrugged, “Adrien made a huge deal when you cut your hair and just went on for days whining about it. And then when Ladybug made her comeback Alya restarted the Ladyblog. And something seemed odd there. And as I kept looking back, things started to make more sense. And a lot of Master Fu’s hints started to make sense too.” Nino sighed and sat down, almost hugging the box as he felt the need to physically protect it, “I think Master Fu wanted me to know who everyone was, but didn’t want to tell me outright, he wanted me to figure it out.”

Alya stopped staring at Mari and looked at Nino, “So you know who Chat is too?”

Nino shrugged, “I have my suspicions. I believe I know who it is, but I have no idea how to approach the subject, because what if I’m wrong? And I just go ahead and reveal to this guy that I’m a Miraculous. I would get in trouble. It’s a stupid move. So… Still trying to figure that one out.”

Alya had a pile of questions for Nino, most of them about Ladybug, even though she was standing right next to Ladybug.

Mari was holding herself back. 

She could ask Nino who he suspects and search for him herself. 

But why, out of nowhere, did she desperately want to know who Chat was? Well… she’s always wanted to know who fathered her baby, but now it felt desperate. Maybe it was because Adrien was gone… Maybe because it would ridiculously unfair for Chat to not know who she was when the rest of the squad already knew. Chat was the one who had always wanted to know the most. 

“Who do you think he is?”

Nino looked at her, and shook his head, “I’m not telling you.”

“Why?” 

Nino shrugged, “To be honest, my list narrowed down recently. I used to have about five guys in my list prior to coming back. But recently it narrowed down. And… now that you’ve confirmed to me you are Ladybug… I am 99.9% sure of what is going on, and I’m, again, 99.9% sure it is about to solve itself very… Very! Soon. It’s better if you find out on your own, and I think he will tell you himself.”

Mari nodded, not liking it, but understanding.

Alya didn’t like it, “What do you mean it will solve itself?”

Nino smiled and looked at Mari, “Chat is Charlotte’s father isn’t he?”

Mari said nothing, didn’t even look up, but her silence spoke volumes, and Alya’s gasp was confirmation of it.

Nino nodded, “Exactly. I may have been in contact with Chat recently, and I believe, I truly do, that he will tell you himself. Because… maybe… Just maybe, he may have figured it out.”

At this, Mari looked up, “What do you mean ‘figured it out’?”

He shrugged, “He may know who you are and that Charlotte is his daughter. I could be mistaken, but everything he has said and done has led me to believe that is so.” 

Mari began to have a small panic attack as she paced around the room thinking about the entire scenario. What did this mean? What was going to happen? What about Adrien? What was she going to do if Adrien came back and found Chat trying to … what? Be a father to his own daughter? Why did she do this!?

“Can I have a hint!?” Mari said desperately.

“Chloe knows him, doesn’t she?” 

Mari paused and gaped at Nino.

Nino nodded as he thought about it, “And I think we all know him. It’s not a stranger. If that makes you feel better about him being the father of your baby.” He smiled, “I gave you three hints. You are welcome. Now, that was not how I intended to distract you from Adrien being M.I.A. so… what do you girls say if we drop this whole drama and have a movie night?”

After having Alya tell him that they were not gonna drop it, Nino went upstairs to have a movie night with Charlotte while Mari and Alya conspired as to who Chat could be, all while trying to get in contact with Chloe, who also appeared to be M.I.A.

Adrien didn’t make it home that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your opinion will be greatly appreciated, and I know I've said this many times, but reading your comments encourages(reminds) me to keep writing!


	10. My Voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari leaves Chloe babysitting Charlotte and comes home to find someone else in her place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *deep breath*  
> Good luck!

All around him were parents rushing with their kids to school.

The sun was hot on his neck, but the tree was cold. It hadn’t yet had enough time to absorb the heat. 

A T.A. walked out of the school to help the guards with admitting all the toddlers in. Apparently, there was a car crash nearby that made almost all parents arrive late today, delaying the entire process.

She had yet to arrive.

He should have gone home last night. 

He shouldn’t be here, hiding in a tree, waiting for a glimpse of his own bride and daughter. 

At the very least, he wouldn’t get in trouble for being late for work. She most likely will.

Finally, her car made it to the front. Finally, he saw her rush out with a sleepy Charlie who’s two ponytails was out of place. Both their hair was curly, which mean they barely made it out of the shower before rushing to school. 

They both looked adorable in the morning light. 

He wanted to go over there, to talk to them, to apologize… but this wasn’t the place for it.

Instead, he stared, watching as Charlie disappeared into the school and Mari stared longingly, how she grew to do whenever they dropped Charlie off. It wasn’t until she couldn’t see a semblance of Charlie anymore that she walked away.

Mari walked towards her car and almost got in but she stopped. It became even odder when Mari, in a crowd of strangers, looked around for something or someone, almost like she knew he was there, basically stalking her. 

But she looked past his tree, and after searching for another moment, she gave up and left.

He sighed, what does Mari like more than anything… that he can buy?

Sewing mate- She buys all of that on her own…

… Sweets… No, her dad owns a bakery, and she visits him every week.

… She makes her own clothes, she’s not a fan of flowers because she can’t keep them alive, she’s not a techie… 

Sentimentally speaking she already has the umbrella, he can’t propose twice… 

This is something that he genuinely didn’t like about Marinette and that was the challenge that there was to get her a gift when she’s crafty and independent. If she wants something, she gets it, and if she can’t buy it, she makes it. 

What could he give her?

… 

He could give her the truth. He has to give her the truth. All of the truth.

-*-*-*-*-

“I know, but production was delayed because of a mistake with a few orders and because the materials are not here th-”

“Mari, just… sum it up for me.” Chloe was tired from dealing with screaming toddlers all day and had a mild headache and now she has to go to the headmaster’s office and tell her that she has to take Charlotte home even though Adrien nor Mari wrote her down as a second or third option? That was going to be another headache all on its own. 

“Gabriel called an emergency meeting to basically yell at everyone who may or did fuck this up.” Mari herself sounded tired, exhausted even, but Chloe’s convinced that has more to do with her missing groom. 

Chloe sighed, “Just… call the school and give them a heads up, please. I can’t just show my face there and tell them I’m gonna take a child home. That’s against the law.” 

“Yeah, sure, sure. Uhm, give me a minute then.” With that, she hung up. 

Chloe put her phone down and looked at Charlotte, who was sitting in the school’s office, waiting for her parents, almost the last student to be picked from school. Charlotte was ripping pages from her notebooks to make paper airplanes and putting them on the chair beside her in order from ‘good’ to ‘bad’. 

It impressed her to see Charlotte being her own critic. Charlotte was smart. It worried her how much the likely break up of her parents might affect that.

Chloe sat down on the other side of Charlotte, as she ripped another page, folded it up and scowled at it. Chloe smiled, “What’s wrong with it?”

Charlotte huffed and shoved it on Chloe’s face, “Look! It’s not ewal! Lines don’t match!”

Chloe nodded, “You want it to be symmetrical?” Chloe hadn’t even noticed how hard Charlotte was trying to make the lines from the notebook be parallel to each other and connect where they could.

“It has to connect! It’s wlong if it don’t connect! The line has to go to the other paper!” Charlotte was almost yelling, and Chloe didn’t go to children’s education school for five years for nothing. She can tell when a child is panicking from a mile away.

Chloe got up from the chair and knelt down in front of her, holding on to her hands, “Charlie, look at me. Look at my eyes.” Charlotte flinched and hesitated for a few seconds before she did as told, “Are you scared because mommy hasn’t come to pick you up?” 

Charlotte shook her head.

“Are you scared because daddy didn’t come home last night?”

Charlotte shook her head.

And continued shaking her head, until she stopped and began nodding, holding back tears, “Mommy was clying last night. Did mommy and daddy have a fight? Is that why daddy hasn’ come back home? Is daddy nevel coming back? Did I do somening wlong?”

“Okay, no- shhh,” Chloe tried wiping her tears away but more came after, “Daddy is just dealing with some stuff back at the mansion. It has nothing- nothing to with you. Daddy loves mommy and daddy loves you! Daddy told me so last time I talked to him.” It was textbook to remind a child that if the parents separated, it wasn’t their fault. And it wasn’t Charlotte’s fault that her mother kept her a secret from her biological father. It wasn’t Charlotte’s fault that her parents are tangled together in such a horrible mess. It wasn’t her fault, but she was the cause of this rift. 

“Miss Bourgeois.” 

Chloe turned around to find the headmistress standing there, staring, “Yes?”

“Miss Agreste has been excused. You can take her home.” Even so, she was looking at Charlotte with suspicion. If they suspect that any traumatic thing is going on with the child, they legally have to intervene before it’s too late. She was wondering if this was one of those.

“Mommy’s here?”

Chloe turned back to Charlotte, “Mommy’s at work. A thing went boom at the office,” Charlotte gasped, “So mommy’s gonna be late today. But I’m gonna take care of you today. We are gonna go home and do our homework and eat some snacks and finish watching Rapunzel. Okay?”

Charlotte nodded and began to pack her notebook and throw away the mess of airplanes.

When she was out of hearing range the headmistress approached her, “Do you know what’s wrong?”

Chloe nodded, “I legally can’t explain it, but I can assure you, it will solve itself soon and it’s not as bad as it looks.” It was easier to say she was legally bound to keep quiet than to say it was a secret. To the headmistress, it meant that the problem was already being taken care of and she didn’t need to intervene.

Charlotte walked back to Chloe, holding out her hand, as she had been told to do when leaving places, and wiped her face. There weren’t any tears left, but Charlotte kept wiping. 

Chloe stared at her do this a few more times before they left. 

She was seriously considering taking Charlotte to get a mental evaluation. What if she has OCD or Aspergers? These things are better to be discovered early, right? 

But she’s not Charlotte’s mother, father or even biological aunt. She can’t do it without the mother’s written permission, so… They left.

Chloe was cleaning the dishes after dinner when she heard a noise upstairs.

She looked at Charlotte on her seat on the table playing with her markers, pretending to do homework, and panicked. 

Panicked for a good minute before she remembered who she was and what her training was. And she remembered who Mari was. And that Mari did not often travel with her Kwami. 

… But her kwami was careful not to make noise as to not alert Adrien. 

“Charlotte, I'm going upstairs and check what that noise was,” She whispered as she handed Charlotte her phone and watched her confused face turn to worry, “If I don’t come back in ten minutes, hide in the bottom cabinets and call for help. You know the number?” Charlotte nodded, “Try to make as little noise as possible.” 

*-*-*-*

Arriving home Mari wondered if Chloe took Charlotte to her apartment seeing as her car wasn’t there, but paid no mind. She needed a breather and this would be the first moment since Adrien left that she’s completely alone. 

She looked for her keys and scolded herself for leaving the lights on in the morning. Things shouldn’t snowball out of control this easily. Man leaves family, the bride is an emotional wreck and forgets to charge her phone, the alarm doesn’t go off in the morning, mayhem proceeds to happen. 

Why can’t she take like… a week off to handle with the emotional stress she’s in?

Opening the door, she found herself smelling food.

Pizza. 

She didn’t order pizza.

Did Chloe leave her car somewhere else?

Mari hung her purse on the coat rack, dropping her jacket on the floor, never taking her eyes off the lit living room where laughter and the smell of pizza was coming from. 

Mari approached the room slowly, both confused and scared, not sure what she would find, but having a strong feeling it wasn’t going to be Chloe.

Charlotte was definitely there. That was her laughter. 

But the other voice spoke too quietly. Or maybe the tone was too low. Was it a male?

Passing the corner she saw dark. Black. Ears?

Chat?

“Chat?”

Chat turned around and gave a devilish smile at her direction, nodding, before going back to playing with Charlotte. 

Mari paused, going over and over again in her mind, trying to remember if at any point she asked Chat to babysit Charlotte because, at this point, she’s so confused about her life that she might have!

“Did… Did I ask you to babysit Charlotte?” She sounded stupid and she felt as much.

He shook his head, leaving Charlotte to pick herself up and take a breath after all the tickling. 

“How do you even- I mean… why are you here? In my house? With ou- my child?” She almost outed herself out… why didn’t she? She was considering doing it yesterday…

“I thought Charlie might find it interesting to meet Chat Noir. She should get to meet all sides of me. And lord knows she likes cats.” He winked at her and she giggled, before running to Mari and hugging her legs.

“Wh- What?” It’s been a long time since Mari stuttered, much less in front of Chat. “When did you previously meet her-”

Charlotte interrupted her by shushing her, winking at her and then giggling as she ran off, hopefully to her room. 

Mari gave a frustrated sigh as Charlotte ran out before turning back to Chat and glaring, “Why are you here and how do you know her- Chloe.” 

It hit her like a ton of bricks.

Chloe knows who Chat Noir is. 

Chat just smiled and let Mari arrive at her own answers, “Chloe told you … What did Chloe tell you?” 

He shrugged and began slowly walking towards her all nonchalant, “That she was in charge of taking care of Charlie tonight and that she had a headache. Told me I had to take care of her. She exaggerated claiming her head was gonna split in two. Figured it was best to get here as soon as possible before she got even more dramatic.” He spoke with a tone of nostalgia and a wisdom that only those who know Chloe for years could have. 

She didn’t move, not even when Chat began circling her, “Why did Chloe ask you to babysit Charlotte? Have you done this before?”

“Oh yeah, lots.” 

Mari was going to kill Chloe, “Why did Chloe ask you to babysit-”

“It’s not babysitting if it's your own child.”

Mari felt her breathing stop and the air get cold, so suffocatingly cold, she couldn’t breathe even if she wanted to.

Chat muttered, still circling her, “Dad’s don’t babysit. I was just doing my damn job.” 

Mari tried to suck in air, feeling her lungs freeze in the process, “What makes you think Charlotte-”

“Are you seriously going to keep this up?” He stopped behind her, his voice tired and threatening, and familiar. She could almost hear the Christmas music that was playing five years ago on that damn night. “I know, okay? I know about Charlotte, and I know about you. How I know it's irrelevant right now. But I know.”

She swallowed, blinked, and tried to hold back a scream of panic, “... Why are you mad at me?” 

She heard him sigh sarcastically and shuffle behind her, “Again, are you serious? I just found out Charlotte’s really my daughter-”

“That’s your fault.”

He stopped shuffling, and she could hear him taking deep breaths.

“I told you many times I needed to talk to you, and every single time you pushed me away, ignored me and eventually told me you wanted nothing to do with me. What kind of mother would I had been if I had forced my daughter into that type of home?” She took deep breaths, still feeling suffocated, “You hated me. And I was angry at you for holding a grudge and not giving me even an ounce of a chance to explain myself, or to remind you of every single scenario we’ve had that completely justified my persistence-”

“I already went through all of that in my head twelve hours ago. I know what I did wrong. I don’t need a twelve-page essay on it.” He sounded bitter.

“Then?” She sounded out of breath.

“What about what you did wrong? I know she was already a year old, but why didn’t you tell me then, when you came back to patrol? 

Mari stayed quiet, contemplating whether, to tell the truth or give him a pretty white lie, “I had found someone. And he was such a great father. And I had convinced myself he would never hurt me like you did. That it would be okay with us three… I guess I was wrong again.” 

There was silence, and she could only hear his steady breathing. 

“I’m sure he’s sorry. I’m sure… he regrets what he did.” His voice was very quiet. 

Mari nodded, “Did he tell you that?”

He was quiet.

Mari laughed, tired and irritated, “Somehow I believe that. Seems like he’s talking to everyone else but me. Everyone knows why he left, but me.” 

Chat approached her slowly from behind, trying not to set up any danger signs on her head. “You might already know why he left… It’s not the first time he freaks out and runs.”

She scoffed, “I’ve been living with him for four years and it still feels like everyone else knows him better than I do.” 

He sighed, “Listen.” 

She tried to turn around but he held her in place.

“Don’t look. It makes it harder to see the truth.” 

Her breathing was slow but heavy, as heavy as the heart beats that were accelerating.

“Just focus on my voice.” 

“Chat-”

“Just focus on my voice and you’ll figure it out.”

She obeyed and focused, trying to figure out whatever he wanted her to figure out.

“Come on, Bugaboo. I know you can do it. You are the smart one out of the both of us.” He whispered in her ear. 

Mari panicked, hearing the pet name that she hadn’t heard in a long time. Many memories coming back, good and bad.

“You’ve heard this voice before,” He continued whispering, moving closer and ridding them both of any personal space, “And in the most indecent ways.”Chat basically growled in her ear. 

Her breathing picked up, seeing in her memories another blonde man tangled up in bed with her. 

“... And I hope you understand I’m not talking about the night Charlotte was made.” His hands gripped her biceps tighter, holding her close to him, his face pressed against the side of her head as he continued to whisper.

“But while we’re talking about that… did I get better?”

Mari’s breathing paused. She was struggling with wanting to punch him and wanting to punch herself.

“You definitely did. I mean the way you pushed me on the bed and rode me last week was just heavenly-”

Mari pushed him away, finally turning around and facing him. There was confusion on her face, as she both knew what he meant, but felt that those memories belonged to another man. She kept looking him up and down, trying to compare them both and end up with the same picture, but it never matched. Her head refused to make them match.

And he could see it. 

He nodded, “Claws in.” 

She took a deep breath as a bright green light consumed the room.

She stared at the man standing in front of her and couldn’t believe it. She saw it happen right in front of her and she still couldn’t believe it.

They stayed in silence for a while before Mari turned to look at the stairs and then back at him, remembering what Nino said. 

“You- you know… you know everything. Ho-... how?”

“That ring.” Adrien pointed at her hand, where her ring had remained, even through the doubt. “Nino kept insisting that Charlotte had to be mine. That she looked too much like me. I just thought it was a coincidence, but that ring. . .”

Mari looked down, and the ring, feeling like there had to be many more like this one, even if it was personalized for her. 

“Did you know it was engraved? On the inside,” Mari took off her ring, for the first time since… since she showed it to Chat and found both her initials and Adrien’s engraved on the inside of the band. She could almost see the entire night happening again, now understand what happened, what Chat… Adrien saw, what he was looking for, what he found. Why he left. 

He looked down in shame, “I panicked, and ran. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I don’t know why that’s my default setting when in these kinds of situations… I’m sorry.” He sighed and took a deep breath, continuing, “I ran back to my dad’s house, and there Chloe found me, yelled at me, and reminded me how badly I messed up. But I still couldn’t go back. I felt like I needed to be sure I was right before I came back here and demanded answers. Originally I was going to ask for a paternity test but… Dad told me that he would try and get the truth in a less messy and invasive way. And he did.” 

Mari couldn’t speak. Too much of her memory was being re-written with a new bold font. 

“When he told me that Charlotte was mine I… I felt I needed to think, to organize my thoughts and figure out what to do next, and to breath. I should have come back yesterday, but I felt so suffocated, mostly by my own thoughts and worries, but... I don’t expect you to forgive me. I walked out on you twice. I don’t . . . I don’t deserve you or Charlotte. But I’m so sorry. At this point, I don’t know what I’ll do without you or her... I can understand if you don’t want to forgive me, but please don’t take her from me.” There were tears forming in his eyes and that frantic breathy tone in his voice.

Mari stayed silent for a while, just staring at him, feeling tears prickling at her eyes. 

Finally, she took a deep breath, “What happened to the confident cat that was here just a few minutes ago?”

Adrien shrugged, “He’s stupid. He had no business being in this conversation.” 

Mari shook her head, sighing, “Adrien.”

He nodded and waited.

“Chat.” She sighed and stumbled to the couch, “Adrien… Chat. They are very different. Why?”

He shrugged, “Freedom changes you.”

Mari nodded, “And yet they both bitch out whenever there’s some big problem they can’t punch their way through.”

Adrien stumbled to her, dropping to his knees in front of her, grabbing her hands in his and holding on tight, “I know I made I mistake, an even bigger one than yours. One that makes yours look like a miniscule oops. I don’t expect you to forgive me now, or tomorrow, or next week. But please give me a chance. I know I don’t deserve it, but please. You and Charlotte have been what’s been pushing me forward for the past five years, what’s kept me going on any situation ever. I don’t know what I’ll do without you two. So please, give me, give us all a chance to be that family I promised you we would always be.” 

She stared into his eyes, trying to find answers there, and then pulled away, hiding her hands from his as she took deep breaths, “I’ll… I’ll need time.”

He nodded and leaned back, wanting to give her space, but fearing getting too far from her… again.

From the corner of her eye, she saw movement and worried for a second that Charlotte had just witnessed that entire conversation, but instead found two tiny beings watching quietly from the hallway.

“Why didn’t you tell us? You two have been basically living with each other and at no point did you consider telling us what a fucking lie we were living!?” Mari asked, feeling rage, feeling the desperate need to put the blame somewhere else, because right now she really needed a hug but the person who she wanted it from was the reason why she needed it. 

Plagg shrugged, seeming to not care, before Tikki replied, tired, “Because this was not our problem, nor our secret. You don’t tell people or the other miraculous who Rena and Carapace are, do you?”

Mari shrugged, not wanting to listen to Tikki’s ever-wise words.

“No. Because that’s not your secret to tell anyone. And even more, us Kwamis can’t actually say the name of our holder in front of other people, so as to protect your identities. Even if we had wanted to, we couldn’t tell guys that Adrien was basically living and dating his ex. Or that the father of your kid was actually raising her. Our magic forbade us from it, and even if we could, imagine how that would have gone. You saw it happen right in front of you and you’re still having trouble believing Adrien and Chat are one person. You wouldn’t have believed me. This was something you both needed to discover yourself.”

Plagg nodded, “What she said. Yeah.”

Tikki sighed, “Plagg if you’re not gonna put out fires, shut up.”

“. . . You know who Carapace and Rena are?” Adrien asked.

“Adrien, please,” Mari muttered.

Adrien dropped back from his squat and sat on the floor, “So you know who everyone is?”

“Yeah, and so do you. That’s not important right now.” Mari felt a headache forming and she just wanted to vomit everything out. The truth, the lies, and the stress. And maybe her lunch… Mostly her lunch.

“Can I get a hint-”

“Adrien!” Her glare sent a very clear message, ‘Not now’. 

He didn’t take it, “What?”

“I’m still angry at you. I don’t want to have dumb talks about what our friends do when we’re not watching.” She stood up and started pacing, remembering in an instant she was still wearing her pumps and her feet were aching. She kicked them away, a little too aggressively, losing four inches to her height.

Adrien nodded, looking frustrated, “So what? You want to spend the rest of the night arguing?”

She shook her head, not looking at him, or the two kwamis who were now lounging on the end table, “I need… I-... I think I need time… and space-”

“No.” 

She stopped and turned back to him.

“My mistake was walking away, twice. And now I am aware of it. Do you think I’m gonna be that stupid and do it again, immediately after apologizing to you for it? I’m staying. In the guest room, on the couch, in Charlie’s room, I don’t know and I don’t care, but I’m not leaving.” There was a strong determination on his face. 

There was stubbornness on hers as she glared back. 

And they stared/glared at each other for a while before Mari’s shoulder sunk and she sighed heavily, “I’m gonna go make sure Charlotte did her bedtime routine, you… I don’t know and I don’t care right now what you do.” She walked away.

Adrien remained sitting there in the middle of their living room, worrying over and over again if this was the one problem they were'nt going to get out off. 

And to think, he’s died many times on the job, but this would be it.

*-*-*

It has been three weeks since that… traumatic night, and as far as Charlotte was aware, it didn’t happen.

Daddy had a job to do, he did it and then he came back as a cat. Something normal for Charlotte who wrote it off as ‘daddy has the same weekend job that mommy does when she dresses up with the polka dots’. Which was true. 

And that’s all she needed to know. 

She didn’t need to know her parents were on the verge of breaking up at any second of any day with just the simplest of wrong moves, she didn’t need to know that for years her own father didn’t know he was actually her father, and she didn’t need to know why mommy was freaking out.

… Okay, maybe she did, but not now. 

“Why now? Of all the times this had to happen, why now?” 

Alya shrugged and took a sip of her frappuccino, “Honestly, this always seems to happen to you when you least need it.”

Chloe giggled, pouring sugar into her coffee, “At least this time you know who the father is.” 

“I knew who Charlotte’s father was. I just didn’t know who… he really was.” Mari stubbornly took a big chug of her bottled water, seeing as immediately as the news spread, her crew put her on a baby proof diet. She really wanted caffeine. 

Nino put his phone down and sighed, “Adrien is back home. Charlotte just had a few bruises, nothing serious. What happened again?”

Mari put the bottle down, and grimaced at the table, “She was playing with Adrien, when she started jumping on the bed, and … Of course, she fell.”

“You know, Charlotte said she wanted to get into ballet,” Chloe added, stirring her coffee slowly, smirking as Mari longingly stared at it. 

“Fuck ballet! Put her into Martial Arts. That way you can be a family of ass kickers!” Nino exclaimed, a little too loudly for the quiet coffee shop.

Mari smiled, and shook her head, “Not yet. Maybe both, but not yet. Let her be a kid before we start pushing goals and ambitions unto her.”

Alya sighed, putting her drink down and grabbing Mari’s cold hand, “What are you gonna do? Are things getting better with Adrien? Do you think you can do this whole baby thing again?”

Mari stared at the hand, smiling, seeming to be in another world as she shrugged, “Things… are moving with Adrien. At a slow pace, but… we are getting somewhere.”

“And the baby?” Nino butted in.

Mari shrugged again, “We managed with Charlotte, we can do this again. Hopefully, things will be better by the time it is born.”

Chloe stared at her, and gave a sad smile, “You know if you want you can put the blame somewhere else.”

They all turned to look at her, confused.

“It's all a matter of cause and effect,” Chloe shrugged, “Had Hawkmoth not terrorized Paris, you two would not have needed to keep your-” Chloe paused and then whispered, “Identities a secret, and... Well… The rest writes itself.” 

Nino shook his head, “If Gabriel had been a better father to Adrien he wouldn’t have this fear of confrontation.”

Alya nodded, “Yeah, and also if Hawkmoth hadn’t terrorized Paris, we wouldn’t even be-” Alya looked around before whispering, “you know, Miraculous.”

Mari sighed, staring off to the distance, shaking her head, “Gabriel fucked his son over so badly. Everything started because of him, and ended because of him.”

Chloe shook her head, “Guys, it was Hawkmoth who started this all. I truly believe that if-”

“Gabriel was Hawkmoth.”

There was quiet after her whisper, as everyone gawked at Mari.

It was a while before Nino shook his head in defeat, leaning back like a ton a pounds have been lifted off of him, “Of course.”

Chloe sighed, shaking her head, and stood up, muttering to herself as she walked away, “What did you do now, Gabriel?”

Alya took Mari’s hand again, rubbing it in hers, seeming like she wanted to heal all of Mari’s problems with her bare hands, “So the man who terrorized us is the grandfather of both of your kids?”

Mari was about to talk when Nino interrupted her, leaning forward, “How long have you known?”

“A few years.” 

Nino and Alya both looked at each other, seeing the past few quiet years for what they were.

“Gabriel quit because of Charlotte?” Alya asked.

Mari nodded.

Alya leaned back, now defeated, “I always wanted to see the bigger picture… Now I understand why they say naivety is underrated.”

When Chloe came back she asked the question that now all of them were asking themselves, “Does Adrien know?” 

Mari shook her head, “And it’s better this way. He doesn’t need to know. Gabriel has… promised to dedicate the rest of his life to his son and his grandchildren. He quit, it’s in the past. Let's leave it that way.”

Chloe sighed and nodded.

*-*-*-*

Marinette laid in bed, waiting for Adrien to settle in so she could turn off the lights. She was so tired, what with the new line coming out in less than a month, her family drama and now a surprise baby.

“You took all the pills, right? The folic acid and-”

“Yes.”

He nodded and settled in, watching as she turned off the lamp and tucked herself into a fetal position on her side of the bed, far away from him, again.

He sighed and hid under the covers, lying awkwardly on his side of the bed. 

They pretended to sleep for a few minutes before Adrien grew uneasy, after weeks of silent nights.

“You know I love you right?” She heard him whisper into the darkness.

She nodded and said nothing. She didn’t know if he saw her nodding, but guessed so from his silence.

“I’m always going to hate myself for doing what I did.”

She waited. This was something he had said a fair amount of times already, whispered to her while Charlotte chatted excitedly about school or her new friends or her funnily dressed parents. Adrien refused to leave Charlotte or her alone for too long, so there has been almost no sense of privacy lately.

“. . . Why didn’t you tell me? When you came back?” 

She sighed, “Because Chat didn’t want Ladybug anymore. And that hurt. And I didn’t want to get hurt again. I didn’t want you to just come back because I had your baby, that would have made me feel like I was worth nothing to you… And then there was this guy who wanted me and was taking care of me and what he thought was another man’s baby, and that meant sooo much to me… So yeah.”

“At no point did you think it was the responsible thing to let me know there was a tiny human out there who shared my DNA?” He didn’t sound angry, just digging for information.

She shrugged, “How would you have reacted if I told you that you had a two-year-old daughter? And that some other man was taking care of her,” She paused, waiting for a response that didn’t come, “You are possessive, Adrien. You wouldn’t have liked that. You would have demanded to know who I really was, and who this man was, and that would have been a huge mess-”

“Worse than this?” 

She paused and thought about it, “I don’t think I would have told you. I think I would have lied or come up with excuses to prevent you from seeing us. I’m not even sure if I would have let you meet Charlotte. I was still angry back then, and going back to that same old argument would not have been good for us. We would hated each other even more, and there’s no way we would have been able to come back from that.”

He stayed silent for a few minutes before she finally felt him shift, turning to look at her back, “Did we come back from that?”

“You’re still here.”

“And you’re still angry.”

She nodded, “And I will continue to be for a while. I tried my best and I ended up losing twice. I will be angry for a good while. . . But I do love you, that much hasn’t changed.”

“... You didn’t try that hard.” He muttered, and she felt the blood boil in her veins.

“What do you mean?”

She felt him shrug, and mutter, “If not after she was born, why not before?”

She sat up angrily and glared at him, “Adrien, whenever someone tries to get close to you when you are angry and depressed you close up harder than ever. I wasn’t going to keep pushing because that’s exactly what I would have been doing. Pushing you away. I had to let you give me a chance to get close, I had to let you crack open a bit the wall you had put up. Had I tried to knock them down on my own, you would have gone on the defensive and I would have ended up hurt and at that point, it was no longer just about me.”

Adrien stayed silent, having nothing to say about that. 

Mari dropped back into her fetal position. “. . . And I looked.”

She didn’t know why she was saying this now, years later, but she felt he needed to know and she needed to get this off her chest. She felt his soft fingers brush closely behind her back. 

“You never turned and I couldn’t make out that well much about you in the dark, but I looked. And I- . . . I wanted to speak, to apologize. . . to tell you to look at me . . . but the words never came out, no matter how hard I tried. As I thought about it days later, I was a little bit mad at you. You knew the secret. You knew that we had been told time and time again that we couldn’t reveal our identities. Or at least… I thought you knew. I thought you were being stubborn and refusing to understand it from my point of view, from what I thought was our point of view. But it was just mine. I realize that now, after getting to know Plagg. . . Your kwami is a lot more lenient than mine.”

He gave a soft grunt as to signify he heard and he wanted her to continue.

“When. . . when that. . . music video happened, you remember?”

He grunted.

“Well, when that happened, Tikki was freaking out about me being there, and it only got worse when that girl insisted that I be Ladybug, and then. . . I got dressed, and I was so worried I had just blown this. That I had destroyed my identity, my secret, my chance to be something other than clumsy Marinette. . .” The fear in her voice was a replicate of that fear she felt back then, and then her voice lowered into something close to bitter jealousy, “How did Plagg react?”

He sighed, and spoke softly, “He didn’t care. He was convinced no one would figure it out.”

She nodded, “You never had that voice. You never had a constant voice telling you to be careful. To not let anything slip. To keep your identity a secret. You were free as Chat. I was always the responsible one. And that cost me greatly. . . But I didn’t walk out on you. I held on. I held on until I saw that you were no longer holding on. That you were trying to cut the string that connected us. And I backed off, before. . . before it could hurt worse. Before it was no longer just me hurting.”

She sighed, swallowing tears, “I looked.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. 

He sighed, finally moving his hand off the bed and softly grabbing her arm, “Look at me. Look at me now.”

She sighed heavily, turning around to find his face a little too close for how angry she still was.

“I was angry. And you’re right. I would have most likely done something stupid and maybe I would have hurt you, physically or emotionally. Lord knows I can’t control my emotions. . .” He shook his head in shame, “And all that anger made me walk out on you. Twice... I will never forgive myself for it. But I can’t lose you, not now, not ever. And I can’t lose Charlotte. I don’t care how long it takes for you to forgive me, I will wait patiently. It’s what we all deserve after everything we’ve-”

“I don’t care anymore.” 

His eyes widened, thinking he was about to be kicked out. 

“I’m a grown woman, and we’re grown adults. We’ll work through this and one day we’ll look back and we’ll laugh at how stupid we were. I don’t care about what you did to me. We both were stupid.”

He started to smile before she took another breath.

“But you didn’t just walk out on me.”

His smile died instantaneously.

“And that’s my biggest problem right now. That not once, but twice, you walked out on Charlotte. And I can easily forgive Chat for walking out on her. He didn't know. But you did. You knew. And you did it again.”

He stayed quiet, staring at her, at her eyes, seeing the tears building up and feeling his own follow hers.

She took deep breaths, trying to stop the tears from building up.

“Why is Chat ok, but I’m not? We’re both the same person. It’s the same mistake”

She closed her eyes, “Because Chat was just a father. You were. . . are her dad.”

“They’re synonyms.” He whispered.

“They’re similar words, but they mean different things. Chat, being just her father, all he did was make her. He just supplied the sperm and nothing more. But you. You were her dad. Her daddy! The man who has been there since she was born. The man who cried with her when her teeth began to grow out and slept with her in her crib when she couldn’t sleep. The man who held her tiny hand when she took her first steps, and cried, again, when she first said dadda. The man who picked her up and calmed her down when she first fell and scraped her knee. The man who thought her how to ride her tricycle and how to press the buttons on the controller to win. . . . You were always there for her. . . and then you weren’t. And I had no idea how I was going to explain that to her. How was I going to explain to her why were all of daddy’s things gone. Why wasn’t daddy coming home. Where was daddy and why wasn’t he answering the phone.

I don’t care what you did to me. But what you did to her. . . That’s gonna take a lot for me to forgive.”

Adrien didn’t bother holding anything back. Marinette watched as the tears streamed down his face. But he refused to look away. 

He nodded, “. . .” He opened his mouth a few times, sighing each time as words just seemed to escape him. 

Finally, “She’s young. Too young. She will most likely not remember this. And I hope she doesn’t. I know you nor I will ever forget. I know you will bring it up a few times in our future, maybe to piss me off or to guilt me, or whatever. I know we won’t forget, but I promise. . . I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she doesn’t ever remember. That she never has a reason to miss me ever again. I will be so in her life that when she turns eighteen she will rebel on us and run away to some foreign country just to get the fuck away from me.”

She didn’t want to laugh, but she couldn’t help choking on a bit of laughter. 

His hand began to softly caress her cheek, wiping the stray tear away, “When I say I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for this, I didn’t just mean you. I meant both of you. My princess and my queen.” 

“. . . I’m the queen right?”

“No, Charlotte is.”

She pushed him, the air feeling a little lighter now. 

He pulled her closer, kissing her forehead, “Yes. A woman like you deserves to be a queen.” 

He settled back in bed, not forcing her to cuddle to him, but leaving it open for her to decide. She didn’t. She simply laid next to him, grabbing his hand and holding it close to her chest, not feeling like being in his arms tonight, but still feeling like she needed to make sure he was there with her.

He was okay with it.

She figured that they would continue to spend the next few days, weeks, maybe even months, talking in between arguments, trying to move on. It wasn’t going to be easy. They both accidentally betrayed one another. And there would be days when that would come back to haunt them. But they’re both stubborn, and in love. They would fight through it, through their barriers, through their problems. That was the grown-up thing to do, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *another deep breath* AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
> \---  
> Fun fact 1: All these arguments and reveals were a lot more lighthearted originally. I wrote them when I first started writing this whole story, and I had no idea how different it was gonna be or how much better my writing would get. I plan on adding a bonus chapter just filled with how these scenes looked originally and the story map, so you guys can see how much a story can change in the process of writing it.
> 
> Fun Fact 2: I don't know where baby #2 came from. I hope it is okay though, poor little fella coming into the story so late. We still love you!
> 
> Fun Fact 3: This chapter was basically written about a year ago, but as I said, the tone changed, the circumstances changed, so I had to almost completely re-write it. That stressed me out. 
> 
> \---  
> A million thanks to @Allthejohndave for supporting me through some of the toughest chapters of this story, and I know we drifted apart towards the end because of my bad memory and me forgetting to come back to this story, but your support will always be greatly appreaciated.

**Author's Note:**

> READ:
> 
> Don't feel afraid to point out any grammar errors and if you find any plot holes or confusing points.
> 
> Find me at jeonsolar.tumblr.com for updates and such.


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